Coordinated ANR reference sound compression

ABSTRACT

Apparatus and method of an ANR circuit providing both feedforward-based and feedback-based ANR, possibly of a personal ANR device, compressing both feedforward and feedback reference sounds detected by feedforward and feedback microphones, respectively, in response to the acoustic energy of the feedforward reference noise sound reaching a predetermined level.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser.No. 12/431,004 filed Apr. 28, 2009 by Ricardo F. Carreras, now U.S. Pat.No. 8,165,313, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to personal active noise reduction (ANR) devicesto reduce acoustic noise in the vicinity of at least one of a user'sears.

BACKGROUND

Headphones and other physical configurations of personal ANR device wornabout the ears of a user for purposes of isolating the users ears fromunwanted environmental sounds have become commonplace. In particular,ANR headphones in which unwanted environmental noise sounds arecountered with the active generation of anti-noise sounds, have becomehighly prevalent, even in comparison to headphones or ear plugsemploying only passive noise reduction (PNR) technology, in which auser's ears are simply physically isolated from environmental noises.Especially of interest to users are ANR headphones that also incorporateaudio listening functionality, thereby enabling a user to listen toelectronically provided audio (e.g., playback of recorded audio or audioreceived from another device) without the intrusion of unwantedenvironmental noise sounds.

Unfortunately, despite various improvements made over time, existingpersonal ANR devices continue to suffer from a variety of drawbacks.Foremost among those drawbacks are undesirably high rates of powerconsumption leading to short battery life, undesirably narrow ranges ofaudible frequencies in which unwanted environmental noise sounds arecountered through ANR, instances of unpleasant ANR-originated sounds,and instances of actually creating more unwanted noise sounds thanwhatever unwanted environmental sounds may be reduced.

SUMMARY

An ANR circuit employs first, second and third buffers to buffer ANRsettings in preparation for configuring one or more components of theANR circuit during operation and in synchronization with the transfer ofat least one piece of digital data within the ANR circuit. The first andsecond buffers are alternately used to carry out such configuring, whilethe third buffer stores a “failsafe” ANR settings to be automaticallyused in configuring the one or more components of the ANR circuit inresponse to an indication of instability in the provision feedback-basedANR, feedforward-based ANR and/or pass-through audio being detected.

In one aspect, an ANR circuit includes a first ADC; a DAC; a firstdigital filter; a first pathway within the ANR circuit through whichdigital data representing sounds flows from the first ADC to the DACthrough at least the first digital filter at a first data transfer ratethrough at least part of the first pathway; a first ANR settings bufferand a second ANR settings buffer to be alternately employed inconfiguring at least one ANR setting in synchronization with a transferof a piece of digital data transferred through at least part of thefirst pathway at the first data transfer rate; and a third ANR settingsbuffer to store at least one failsafe ANR setting to configure the atleast one ANR setting in response to an instance of instability beingdetected in the ANR circuit.

Implementations may include, and are not limited to, one or more of thefollowing features. The at least one ANR setting may include at leastone of a coefficient setting of the first digital filter, a selection ofa type of digital filter from among a plurality of available types ofdigital filters for the first digital filter, an interconnection of thefirst pathway, and the first data transfer rate. The ANR circuit mayfurther include a processing device and a storage in which is stored asequence of instructions that when executed by the processing device,causes the processing device to maintain the first, second and third ANRsettings buffers within the storage and monitor digital datarepresenting sounds flowing through the first pathway for an indicationof instability in the ANR circuit. The ANR circuit may further include aVariable Gain Amplifier (VGA) incorporated into the first pathway,wherein the at least one ANR setting comprises a gain setting of theVGA. The ANR circuit may further include an interface by which the ANRcircuit is able to be coupled to an external processing device fromwhich the at least one ANR setting is received. The ANR circuit mayfurther include a first filter block incorporated into the firstpathway, wherein the first filter block comprises a plurality of digitalfilters including the first digital filter; the first filter block isconfigurable to cause the first digital filter and other digital filtersof the first filter block to cooperate to implement a transfer function;and the at least one ANR setting comprises a specification of thetransfer function. The ANR circuit may further include a second ADC, asecond digital filter, and a second pathway within the ANR circuitthrough which digital data representing sounds flows from the second ADCto the DAC through at least the second digital filter at a second datatransfer rate through at least part of the second pathway; wherein thefirst and second pathways are combined at a first location along thefirst pathway and at a second location along the second pathway; andwherein the at least one ANR setting comprises at least one of aspecification of where the first location is along the first pathway anda specification of where the second location is along the secondpathway.

In one aspect, a method of configuring at least one ANR setting of anANR circuit having a first pathway through which digital datarepresenting sounds flows from a first ADC to a DAC through at least afirst digital filter and at a first data transfer rate through at leastpart of the first pathway includes: alternately employing a first ANRsettings buffer and a second ANR settings buffer to configure the atleast one ANR setting in synchronization with a transfer of a piece ofdigital data transferred through at least part of the first pathway atthe first data transfer rate; storing at least one failsafe ANR settingin a third ANR settings buffer; and employing the third ANR settingsbuffer to configure the at least one ANR setting in response to aninstance of instability being detected in the ANR circuit.

Implementations may include, and are not limited to, one or more of thefollowing features. The method may further include storing the at leastone ANR setting in one of the first and second ANR settings buffers toconfigure at least one of a coefficient setting of the first digitalfilter, a selection of a type of digital filter from among a pluralityof available types of digital filters for the first digital filter, aninterconnection of the first pathway, the first data transfer rate, again setting of a VGA incorporated into the first pathway, and atransfer function implemented by a filter block comprising a pluralityof digital filters including the first digital filter. The method mayfurther include awaiting receipt of the at least one ANR setting from anexternal processing device coupled to an interface of the ANR circuitand storing the at least one ANR setting in one of the first and secondANR settings buffers. The method may further include storing a failsafegain setting for a VGA incorporated into a pathway in the third ANRsettings buffer; monitoring a signal output by the DAC; and employingthe third ANR settings buffer to configure the VGA with the failsafegain setting in response to detecting an indication of impendingclipping in the signal output by the DAC as an indication of an instanceof instability in the ANR circuit. The method may further includestoring at least one ANR setting in one of the first and second ANRsettings buffers; awaiting receipt of a signal by the ANR circuit; andemploying the one of the first and second ANR settings buffers toconfigure the at least one ANR setting in response to receiving the ANRcircuit receiving the signal.

Apparatus and method of an ANR circuit providing both feedforward-basedand feedback-based ANR, possibly of a personal ANR device, compressingboth feedforward and feedback reference sounds detected by feedforwardand feedback microphones, respectively, in response to the acousticenergy of the feedforward reference noise sound reaching a predeterminedlevel.

In another aspect, an ANR circuit includes a first VGA to compress afeedforward reference sound represented by a signal output by afeedforward microphone detecting an external noise sound in anenvironment external to a casing as the feedforward reference sound, asecond VGA to compress a feedback reference sound represented by asignal output by a feedback microphone detecting a cavity noise soundwithin a cavity defined by the casing as the feedback reference sound,at least one filter to generate a feedforward anti-noise sound from thefeedforward reference sound, at least another filter to generate afeedback anti-noise sound from the feedback reference sound, and acompression controller coupled to the first and second VGAs to operatethe first and second VGAs to coordinate compression of the feedforwardand feedback reference sounds in response to the acoustic energy of theexternal noise sound reaching a first threshold.

Implementations may include, and are not limited to, one or more of thefollowing features. The first VGA may be an analog VGA interposedbetween the feedforward microphone and the at least one filter, and thecompression controller monitors the acoustic energy of the externalnoise sound by monitoring the signal output by the feedforwardmicrophone. The ANR may further include a first ADC to convert thesignal output by the feedforward microphone from analog to digital form,wherein the first VGA may be a digital VGA interposed between first ADCand the at least one filter, and wherein the compression controllerreceives the signal from the feedforward microphone in digital formthrough the first ADC to monitor the acoustic energy of the externalnoise sound. The ANR may further include a DAC to convert a combinationof the feedforward and feedback anti-noise sounds from being representedwith digital data to being represented by an analog signal to beconveyed to an audio amplifier to drive an acoustic driver toacoustically output the combination of feedforward and feedbackanti-noise sounds into the cavity, wherein the compression controllerreceives the digital data representing the combination of thefeedforward and feedback anti-noise sounds, and the compressioncontroller is structured to determine that the acoustic energy of theexternal noise sound reaches the first threshold in response to theamplitude of the combination of the feedforward and feedback anti-noisesounds reaching another threshold. The ANR circuit may further includean audio amplifier outputting an analog signal representing acombination of the feedforward and feedback anti-noise sounds to anacoustic driver to cause the acoustic driver to acoustically output thecombination of the feedforward and feedback anti-noise sounds into thecavity, wherein the compression controller monitors the analog signaloutput by the audio amplifier and representing the combination of thefeedforward and feedback anti-noise sounds, and the compressioncontroller is structured to determine that the acoustic energy of theexternal noise sound reaches the first threshold in response to theamplitude of the analog signal representing the combination of thefeedforward and feedback anti-noise sounds reaching another threshold.The ANR may further include a DAC to convert a combination of thefeedforward and feedback anti-noise sounds from being represented withdigital data to being represented by an analog signal to be conveyed toan audio amplifier to drive an acoustic driver to acoustically outputthe combination of feedforward and feedback anti-noise sounds into thecavity, wherein the compression controller monitors the analog signaloutput by the DAC, and the compression controller is structured todetermine that the acoustic energy of the external noise sound reachesthe first threshold in response to detecting an occurrence of an audioartifact in the analog signal. The ANR circuit may further include anaudio amplifier outputting an analog signal representing a combinationof the feedforward and feedback anti-noise sounds to an acoustic driverto cause the acoustic driver to acoustically output the combination ofthe feedforward and feedback anti-noise sounds into the cavity, whereinthe compression controller monitors the analog signal output by theaudio amplifier, and the compression controller is structured todetermine that the acoustic energy of the external noise sound reachesthe first threshold in response to detecting an occurrence of an audioartifact in the analog signal. The compression controller may operatethe first VGA to compress the feedforward reference sound to anincreasingly greater degree than the compression controller operates thesecond VGA to compress the feedback reference sound as the acousticenergy of the external noise sound rises further above the firstthreshold.

The compression controller may be structured to change the firstthreshold in response to a change in what audible frequency ispredominant in the external noise sound. Further, the compressioncontroller may be structured to lower the first threshold in response towhat audible frequency is predominant in the external noise soundchanging from a higher audible frequency to a lower audible frequency,and wherein the controller raises the first threshold in response towhat audible frequency is predominant in the external noise soundchanging from a lower audible frequency to a higher audible frequency.

The compression controller may be structured to operate the first VGAand the second VGA to compress both the feedforward and feedbackreference sounds in response to the acoustic energy of the externalnoise sound reaching the first threshold, and to operate the first VGAto compress the feedforward reference sound and operates the second VGAto refrain from compressing the feedback reference sound in response tothe acoustic energy of the external noise sound remaining below thefirst threshold while rising above a second threshold, where the secondthreshold is lower than the first threshold. Further, the compressioncontroller may be structured to operate the first VGA to compress thefeedforward reference sound to an increasingly greater degree as theacoustic energy of the external noise sound rises further above thefirst threshold until the firsts VGA is operated to have a gain close tozero, and to operate the second VGA to compress the feedback referencesound to an increasingly greater degree as the acoustic energy of theexternal noise sound rises further above the first threshold and withoutregard to whether or not the first VGA has been operated to have a gainclose to zero. Further, the compression controller may be structured tooperate the first VGA to compress the feedforward reference sound to anincreasingly greater degree as the acoustic energy of the external noisesound rises further above the first threshold until the acoustic energyreaches a third threshold, and to operate the second VGA to compress thefeedback reference sound to an increasingly greater degree as theacoustic energy of the external noise sound rises further above thefirst threshold and without regard to whether or not the acoustic energyof the external noise sound rises above the third threshold, where thethird threshold is higher than the first threshold.

In another aspect, a personal ANR device includes a first casingdefining a first cavity structured to be acoustically coupled to a firstear canal of a first ear of a user of the personal ANR device; a firstfeedforward microphone carried by the first casing in a manner thatacoustically couples the first feedforward microphone to an environmentexternal to the first casing to detect a first external noise sound inthe environment external to the first casing, and structured to output asignal representing the first external noise sound as a firstfeedforward reference sound; a first feedback microphone disposed withinthe first cavity to detect a cavity noise sound within the first cavity,and structured to output a signal representing the cavity noise sound asa first feedback reference sound; a first acoustic driver disposedwithin the first casing to acoustically output a first feedforwardanti-noise sound and first feedback anti-noise sound into the firstcavity; and a first ANR circuit coupled to the first feedforwardmicrophone to receive the signal representing the first feedforwardreference sound, coupled to the first feedback microphone to receive thesignal the representing first feedback reference sound, and coupled tothe first acoustic driver to drive the first acoustic driver toacoustically output the first feedforward and first feedback anti-noisesounds; wherein the first ANR circuit is structured to generate thefirst feedforward anti-noise sound from the first feedforward referencesound, structured to generate the first feedback anti-noise sound fromthe first feedback reference sound, and structured to coordinatecompression of the first feedforward and first feedback reference soundsin response to the acoustic energy of the first external noise soundreaching a first threshold.

Implementations may include, and are not limited to, one or more of thefollowing features. The ANR circuit may be structured to compress thefirst feedforward reference sound to an increasingly greater degree thanthe ANR circuit compresses the first feedback reference sound as theacoustic energy of the first external noise sound rises further abovethe first threshold.

The ANR circuit may be structured to change the first threshold inresponse to a change in what audible frequency is predominant in thefirst external noise sound. Further, the ANR circuit may be structuredto lower the first threshold in response to what audible frequency ispredominant in the external noise sound changing from a higher audiblefrequency to a lower audible frequency, and to raise the first thresholdin response to what audible frequency is predominant in the externalnoise sound changing from a lower audible frequency to a higher audiblefrequency.

The ANR circuit may be structured to compress both the first feedforwardand first feedback reference sounds in response to the acoustic energyof the first external noise sound reaching the first threshold, and tocompress the feedforward reference sound and refrains from compressingthe first feedback reference sound in response to the acoustic energy ofthe first external noise sound remaining below the first threshold whilerising above a second threshold, where the second threshold is lowerthan the first threshold. Further, the ANR circuit may be structured tocompress the feedforward reference sound to an increasingly greaterdegree as the acoustic energy of the first external noise sound risesfurther above the first threshold until the feedforward reference hasbeen compressed to a degree where the feedforward reference sound hasbeen reduced in amplitude to close to zero, and to compress the feedbackreference sound to an increasingly greater degree as the acoustic energyof the first external noise sound rises further above the firstthreshold and without regard to whether or not the feedforward referencesound has been reduced in amplitude to close to zero.

The personal ANR device may further include a second casing defining asecond cavity structured to be acoustically coupled to a second earcanal of a second ear of the user; a second feedforward microphonecarried by the second casing in a manner that acoustically couples thesecond feedforward microphone to an environment external to the secondcasing to detect a second external noise sound in the environmentexternal to the second casing, and structured to output a signalrepresenting the second external noise sound as a second feedforwardreference sound; a second feedback microphone disposed within the secondcavity to detect a cavity noise sound within the second cavity, andstructured to output a signal representing the cavity noise sound as asecond feedback reference sound; and a second acoustic driver disposedwithin the second casing to acoustically output a second feedforwardanti-noise sound and second feedback anti-noise sound into the secondcavity. Further, the personal ANR device may further include a secondANR circuit coupled to the second feedforward microphone to receive thesignal representing the second feedforward reference sound, coupled tothe second feedback microphone to receive the signal the representingsecond feedback reference sound, and coupled to the second acousticdriver to drive the second acoustic driver to acoustically output thesecond feedforward and second feedback anti-noise sounds; wherein thesecond ANR circuit is structured to generate the second feedforwardanti-noise sound from the second feedforward reference sound, structuredto generate the second feedback anti-noise sound from the secondfeedback reference sound, and structured to coordinate compression ofthe second feedforward and second feedback reference sounds in responseto the acoustic energy of the second external noise sound reaching thefirst threshold. Further, the first ANR circuit may be coupled to thesecond feedforward microphone to receive the signal representing thesecond feedforward reference sound, coupled to the second feedbackmicrophone to receive the signal the representing second feedbackreference sound, and coupled to the second acoustic driver to drive thesecond acoustic driver to acoustically output the second feedforward andsecond feedback anti-noise sounds; and the first ANR circuit may bestructured to generate the second feedforward anti-noise sound from thesecond feedforward reference sound, and structured to generate thesecond feedback anti-noise sound from the second feedback referencesound. Still further, the first ANR circuit may be structured tocoordinate compression of the second feedforward and second feedbackreference sounds in response to the acoustic energy of the secondexternal noise sound reaching the first threshold. Still further, thefirst ANR circuit may be structured to coordinate compression of thefirst feedforward, the first feedback, the second feedforward and thesecond feedback reference sounds in response to the acoustic energy ofthe first external noise sound reaching the first threshold.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thedescription and claims that follow.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of portions of an implementation of a personalANR device.

FIGS. 2 a through 2 f depict possible physical configurations of thepersonal ANR device of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3 a and 3 b depict possible internal architectures of an ANRcircuit of the personal ANR device of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 4 a through 4 g depict possible signal processing topologies thatmay be adopted by the ANR circuit of the personal ANR device of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 5 a through 5 e depict possible filter block topologies that maybe adopted by the ANR circuit of the personal ANR device of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 6 a through 6 c depict possible variants of triple-buffering thatmay be adopted by the ANR circuit of the personal ANR device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 a depicts a possible additional portion of the internalarchitecture of FIG. 3 a.

FIG. 7 b depicts a possible additional portion of the internalarchitecture of FIG. 3 b.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a possible boot loading sequence that may beadopted by the ANR circuit of the personal ANR device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 a depicts a possible internal architecture of an ADC of the ANRcircuit of the personal ANR device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 b depicts a possible additional portion of any of the signalprocessing topologies of FIGS. 4 a through 4 g.

FIGS. 10 a and 10 b depict possible additional portions of any of thesignal processing topologies of FIGS. 4 a through 4 g.

FIG. 11 depicts possible additional aspects of any of the signalprocessing topologies of FIGS. 4 a through 4 g

FIG. 12 a depicts a possible additional portion of the internalarchitecture of FIG. 3 a.

FIG. 12 b depicts a possible additional portion of the internalarchitecture of FIG. 3 b.

FIG. 13 depicts possible coordinated compression responses to variousacoustic energy levels of noise sounds at various frequencies of noisesounds.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

What is disclosed and what is claimed herein is intended to beapplicable to a wide variety of personal ANR devices, i.e., devices thatare structured to be at least partly worn by a user in the vicinity ofat least one of the users ears to provide ANR functionality for at leastthat one ear. It should be noted that although various specificimplementations of personal ANR devices, such as headphones, two-waycommunications headsets, earphones, earbuds, wireless headsets (alsoknown as “earsets”) and ear protectors are presented with some degree ofdetail, such presentations of specific implementations are intended tofacilitate understanding through the use of examples, and should not betaken as limiting either the scope of disclosure or the scope of claimcoverage.

It is intended that what is disclosed and what is claimed herein isapplicable to personal ANR devices that provide two-way audiocommunications, one-way audio communications (i.e., acoustic output ofaudio electronically provided by another device), or no communications,at all. It is intended that what is disclosed and what is claimed hereinis applicable to personal ANR devices that are wirelessly connected toother devices, that are connected to other devices through electricallyand/or optically conductive cabling, or that are not connected to anyother device, at all. It is intended that what is disclosed and what isclaimed herein is applicable to personal ANR devices having physicalconfigurations structured to be worn in the vicinity of either one orboth ears of a user, including and not limited to, headphones witheither one or two earpieces, over-the-head headphones, behind-the-neckheadphones, headsets with communications microphones (e.g., boommicrophones), wireless headsets (i.e., earsets), single earphones orpairs of earphones, as well as hats or helmets incorporating one or twoearpieces to enable audio communications and/or ear protection. Stillother physical configurations of personal ANR devices to which what isdisclosed and what is claimed herein are applicable will be apparent tothose skilled in the art.

Beyond personal ANR devices, what is disclosed and claimed herein isalso meant to be applicable to the provision of ANR in relatively smallspaces in which a person may sit or stand, including and not limited to,phone booths, car passenger cabins, etc.

FIG. 1 provides a block diagram of a personal ANR device 1000 structuredto be worn by a user to provide active noise reduction (ANR) in thevicinity of at least one of the user's ears. As will also be explainedin greater detail, the personal ANR device 1000 may have any of a numberof physical configurations, some possible ones of which are depicted inFIGS. 2 a through 2 f. Some of these depicted physical configurationsincorporate a single earpiece 100 to provide ANR to only one of theuser's ears, and others incorporate a pair of earpieces 100 to provideANR to both of the user's ears. However, it should be noted that for thesake of simplicity of discussion, only a single earpiece 100 is depictedand described in relation to FIG. 1. As will also be explained ingreater detail, the personal ANR device 1000 incorporates at least oneANR circuit 2000 that may provide either or both of feedback-based ANRand feedforward-based ANR, in addition to possibly further providingpass-through audio. FIGS. 3 a and 3 b depict a couple of possibleinternal architectures of the ANR circuit 2000 that are at least partlydynamically configurable. Further, FIGS. 4 a through 4 e depict somepossible signal processing topologies and FIGS. 5 a through 5 e depictsome possible filter block topologies that may the ANR circuit 2000maybe dynamically configured to adopt. Further, the provision of eitheror both of feedback-based ANR and feedforward-based ANR is in additionto at least some degree of passive noise reduction (PNR) provided by thestructure of each earpiece 100. Still further, FIGS. 6 a through 6 cdepict various forms of triple-buffering that may be employed indynamically configuring signal processing topologies, filter blocktopologies and/or still other ANR settings.

Each earpiece 100 incorporates a casing 110 having a cavity 112 at leastpartly defined by the casing 110 and by at least a portion of anacoustic driver 190 disposed within the casing to acoustically outputsounds to a user's ear. This manner of positioning the acoustic driver190 also partly defines another cavity 119 within the casing 110 that isseparated from the cavity 112 by the acoustic driver 190. The casing 110carries an ear coupling 115 surrounding an opening to the cavity 112 andhaving a passage 117 that is formed through the ear coupling 115 andthat communicates with the opening to the cavity 112. In someimplementations, an acoustically transparent screen, grill or other formof perforated panel (not shown) may be positioned in or near the passage117 in a manner that obscures the cavity and/or the passage 117 fromview for aesthetic reasons and/or to protect components within thecasing 110 from damage. At times when the earpiece 100 is worn by a userin the vicinity of one of the user's ears, the passage 117 acousticallycouples the cavity 112 to the ear canal of that ear, while the earcoupling 115 engages portions of the ear to form at least some degree ofacoustic seal therebetween. This acoustic seal enables the casing 110,the ear coupling 115 and portions of the users head surrounding the earcanal (including portions of the ear) to cooperate to acousticallyisolate the cavity 112, the passage 117 and the ear canal from theenvironment external to the casing 110 and the user's head to at leastsome degree, thereby providing some degree of PNR.

In some variations, the cavity 119 may be coupled to the environmentexternal to the casing 110 via one or more acoustic ports (only one ofwhich is shown), each tuned by their dimensions to a selected range ofaudible frequencies to enhance characteristics of the acoustic output ofsounds by the acoustic driver 190 in a manner readily recognizable tothose skilled in the art. Also, in some variations, one or more tunedports (not shown) may couple the cavities 112 and 119, and/or may couplethe cavity 112 to the environment external to the casing 110. Althoughnot specifically depicted, screens, grills or other forms of perforatedor fibrous structures may be positioned within one or more of such portsto prevent passage of debris or other contaminants therethrough and/orto provide a selected degree of acoustic resistance therethrough.

In implementations providing feedforward-based ANR, a feedforwardmicrophone 130 is disposed on the exterior of the casing 110 (or on someother portion of the personal ANR device 1000) in a manner that isacoustically accessible to the environment external to the casing 110.This external positioning of the feedforward microphone 130 enables thefeedforward microphone 130 to detect environmental noise sounds, such asthose emitted by an acoustic noise source 9900, in the environmentexternal to the casing 110 without the effects of any form of PNR or ANRprovided by the personal ANR device 1000. As those familiar withfeedforward-based ANR will readily recognize, these sounds detected bythe feedforward microphone 130 are used as a reference from whichfeedforward anti-noise sounds are derived and then acoustically outputinto the cavity 112 by the acoustic driver 190. The derivation of thefeedforward anti-noise sounds takes into account the characteristics ofthe PNR provided by the personal ANR device 1000, characteristics andposition of the acoustic driver 190 relative to the feedforwardmicrophone 130, and/or acoustic characteristics of the cavity 112 and/orthe passage 117. The feedforward anti-noise sounds are acousticallyoutput by the acoustic driver 190 with amplitudes and time shiftscalculated to acoustically interact with the noise sounds of theacoustic noise source 9900 that are able to enter into the cavity 112,the passage 117 and/or an ear canal in a subtractive manner that atleast attenuates them.

In implementations providing feedback-based ANR, a feedback microphone120 is disposed within the cavity 112. The feedback microphone 120 ispositioned in close proximity to the opening of the cavity 112 and/orthe passage 117 so as to be positioned close to the entrance of an earcanal when the earpiece 100 is worn by a user. The sounds detected bythe feedback microphone 120 are used as a reference from which feedbackanti-noise sounds are derived and then acoustically output into thecavity 112 by the acoustic driver 190. The derivation of the feedbackanti-noise sounds takes into account the characteristics and position ofthe acoustic driver 190 relative to the feedback microphone 120, and/orthe acoustic characteristics of the cavity 112 and/or the passage 117,as well as considerations that enhance stability in the provision offeedback-based ANR. The feedback anti-noise sounds are acousticallyoutput by the acoustic driver 190 with amplitudes and time shiftscalculated to acoustically interact with noise sounds of the acousticnoise source 9900 that are able to enter into the cavity 112, thepassage 117 and/or the ear canal (and that have not been attenuated bywhatever PNR) in a subtractive manner that at least attenuates them.

The personal ANR device 1000 further incorporates one of the ANR circuit2000 associated with each earpiece 100 of the personal ANR device 1000such that there is a one-to-one correspondence of ANR circuits 2000 toearpieces 100. Either a portion of or substantially all of each ANRcircuit 2000 may be disposed within the casing 110 of its associatedearpiece 100. Alternatively and/or additionally, a portion of orsubstantially all of each ANR circuit 2000 may be disposed withinanother portion of the personal ANR device 1000. Depending on whetherone or both of feedback-based ANR and feedforward-based ANR are providedin an earpiece 100 associated with the ANR circuit 2000, the ANR circuit2000 is coupled to one or both of the feedback microphone 120 and thefeedforward microphone 130, respectively. The ANR circuit 2000 isfurther coupled to the acoustic driver 190 to cause the acoustic outputof anti-noise sounds.

In some implementations providing pass-through audio, the ANR circuit2000 is also coupled to an audio source 9400 to receive pass-throughaudio from the audio source 9400 to be acoustically output by theacoustic driver 190. The pass-through audio, unlike the noise soundsemitted by the acoustic noise source 9900, is audio that a user of thepersonal ANR device 1000 desires to hear. Indeed, the user may wear thepersonal ANR device 1000 to be able to hear the pass-through audiowithout the intrusion of the acoustic noise sounds. The pass-throughaudio may be a playback of recorded audio, transmitted audio, or any ofa variety of other forms of audio that the user desires to hear. In someimplementations, the audio source 9400 may be incorporated into thepersonal ANR device 1000, including and not limited to, an integratedaudio playback component or an integrated audio receiver component. Inother implementations, the personal ANR device 1000 incorporates acapability to be coupled either wirelessly or via an electrically oroptically conductive cable to the audio source 9400 where the audiosource 9400 is an entirely separate device from the personal ANR device1000 (e.g., a CD player, a digital audio file player, a cell phone,etc.).

In other implementations pass-through audio is received from acommunications microphone 140 integrated into variants of the personalANR device 1000 employed in two-way communications in which thecommunications microphone 140 is positioned to detect speech soundsproduced by the user of the personal ANR device 1000. In suchimplementations, an attenuated or otherwise modified form of the speechsounds produced by the user may be acoustically output to one or bothears of the user as a communications sidetone to enable the user to heartheir own voice in a manner substantially similar to how they normallywould hear their own voice when not wearing the personal ANR device1000.

In support of the operation of at least the ANR circuit 2000, thepersonal ANR device 1000 may further incorporate one or both of astorage device 170, a power source 180 and/or a processing device (notshown). As will be explained in greater detail, the ANR circuit 2000 mayaccess the storage device 170 (perhaps through a digital serialinterface) to obtain ANR settings with which to configure feedback-basedand/or feedforward-based ANR. As will also be explained in greaterdetail, the power source 180 may be a power storage device of limitedcapacity (e.g., a battery).

FIGS. 2 a through 2 f depict various possible physical configurationsthat may be adopted by the personal ANR device 1000 of FIG. 1. Aspreviously discussed, different implementations of the personal ANRdevice 1000 may have either one or two earpieces 100, and are structuredto be worn on or near a user's head in a manner that enables eachearpiece 100 to be positioned in the vicinity of a users ear.

FIG. 2 a depicts an “over-the-head” physical configuration 1500 a of thepersonal ANR device 1000 that incorporates a pair of earpieces 100 thatare each in the form of an earcup, and that are connected by a headband102. However, and although not specifically depicted, an alternatevariant of the physical configuration 1500 a may incorporate only one ofthe earpieces 100 connected to the headband 102. Another alternatevariant of the physical configuration 1500 a may replace the headband102 with a different band structured to be worn around the back of thehead and/or the back of the neck of a user.

In the physical configuration 1500 a, each of the earpieces 100 may beeither an “on-ear” (also commonly called “supra-aural”) or an“around-ear” (also commonly called “circum-aural”) form of earcup,depending on their size relative to the pinna of a typical human ear. Aspreviously discussed, each earpiece 100 has the casing 110 in which thecavity 112 is formed, and that 110 carries the ear coupling 115. In thisphysical configuration, the ear coupling 115 is in the form of aflexible cushion (possibly ring-shaped) that surrounds the periphery ofthe opening into the cavity 112 and that has the passage 117 formedtherethrough that communicates with the cavity 112.

Where the earpieces 100 are structured to be worn as over-the-earearcups, the casing 110 and the ear coupling 115 cooperate tosubstantially surround the pinna of an ear of a user. Thus, when such avariant of the personal ANR device 1000 is correctly worn, the headband102 and the casing 110 cooperate to press the ear coupling 115 againstportions of a side of the users head surrounding the pinna of an earsuch that the pinna is substantially hidden from view. Where theearpieces 100 are structured to be worn as on-ear earcups, the casing110 and ear coupling 115 cooperate to overlie peripheral portions of apinna that surround the entrance of an associated ear canal. Thus, whencorrectly worn, the headband 102 and the casing 110 cooperate to pressthe ear coupling 115 against portions of the pinna in a manner thatlikely leaves portions of the periphery of the pinna visible. Thepressing of the flexible material of the ear coupling 115 against eitherportions of a pinna or portions of a side of a head surrounding a pinnaserves both to acoustically couple the ear canal with the cavity 112through the passage 117, and to form the previously discussed acousticseal to enable the provision of PNR.

FIG. 2 b depicts another over-the-head physical configuration 1500 bthat is substantially similar to the physical configuration 1500 a, butin which one of the earpieces 100 additionally incorporates acommunications microphone 140 connected to the casing 110 via amicrophone boom 142. When this particular one of the earpieces 100 iscorrectly worn, the microphone boom 142 extends from the casing 110 andgenerally alongside a portion of a cheek of a user to position thecommunications microphone 140 closer to the mouth of the user to detectspeech sounds acoustically output from the users mouth. However, andalthough not specifically depicted, an alternative variant of thephysical configuration 1500 b is possible in which the communicationsmicrophone 140 is more directly disposed on the casing 110, and themicrophone boom 142 is a hollow tube that opens on one end in thevicinity of the users mouth and on the other end in the vicinity of thecommunications microphone 140 to convey sounds from the vicinity of theuser's mouth to the vicinity of the communications microphone 140.

FIG. 2 b also depicts the other of the earpieces 100 with broken linesto make clear that still another variant of the physical configuration1500 b of the personal ANR device 1000 is possible that incorporatesonly the one of the earpieces 100 that incorporates the microphone boom142 and the communications microphone 140. In such another variant, theheadband 102 would still be present and would continue to be worn overthe head of the user.

FIG. 2 c depicts an “in-ear” (also commonly called “intra-aural”)physical configuration 1500 c of the personal ANR device 1000 thatincorporates a pair of earpieces 100 that are each in the form of anin-ear earphone, and that may or may not be connected by a cord and/orby electrically or optically conductive cabling (not shown). However,and although not specifically depicted, an alternate variant of thephysical configuration 1500 c may incorporate only one of the earpieces100.

As previously discussed, each of the earpieces 100 has the casing 110 inwhich the open cavity 112 is formed, and that carries the ear coupling115. In this physical configuration, the ear coupling 115 is in the formof a substantially hollow tube-like shape defining the passage 117 thatcommunicates with the cavity 112. In some implementations, the earcoupling 115 is formed of a material distinct from the casing 110(possibly a material that is more flexible than that from which thecasing 110 is formed), and in other implementations, the ear coupling115 is formed integrally with the casing 110.

Portions of the casing 110 and/or of the ear coupling 115 cooperate toengage portions of the concha and/or the ear canal of a users ear toenable the casing 110 to rest in the vicinity of the entrance of the earcanal in an orientation that acoustically couples the cavity 112 withthe ear canal through the ear coupling 115. Thus, when the earpiece 100is properly positioned, the entrance to the ear canal is substantially“plugged” to create the previously discussed acoustic seal to enable theprovision of PNR.

FIG. 2 d depicts another in-ear physical configuration 1500 d of thepersonal ANR device 1000 that is substantially similar to the physicalconfiguration 1500 c, but in which one of the earpieces 100 is in theform of a single-ear headset (sometimes also called an “earset”) thatadditionally incorporates a communications microphone 140 disposed onthe casing 110. When this earpiece 100 is correctly worn, thecommunications microphone 140 is generally oriented towards the vicinityof the mouth of the user in a manner chosen to detect speech soundsproduced by the user. However, and although not specifically depicted,an alternative variant of the physical configuration 1500 d is possiblein which sounds from the vicinity of the users mouth are conveyed to thecommunications microphone 140 through a tube (not shown), or in whichthe communications microphone 140 is disposed on a boom (not shown)connected to the casing 110 and positioning the communicationsmicrophone 140 in the vicinity of the user's mouth.

Although not specifically depicted in FIG. 2 d, the depicted earpiece100 of the physical configuration 1500 d having the communicationsmicrophone 140 may or may not be accompanied by another earpiece havingthe form of an in-ear earphone (such as one of the earpieces 100depicted in FIG. 2 c) that may or may not be connected to the earpiece100 depicted in FIG. 2 d via a cord or conductive cabling (also notshown).

FIG. 2 e depicts a two-way communications handset physical configuration1500 e of the personal ANR device 1000 that incorporates a singleearpiece 100 that is integrally formed with the rest of the handset suchthat the casing 110 is the casing of the handset, and that may or maynot be connected by conductive cabling (not shown) to a cradle base withwhich it may be paired. In a manner not unlike one of the earpieces 100of an on-the-ear variant of either of the physical configurations 1500 aand 1500 b, the earpiece 100 of the physical configuration 1500 ecarries a form of the ear coupling 115 that is configured to be pressedagainst portions of the pinna of an ear to enable the passage 117 toacoustically couple the cavity 112 to an ear canal. In various possibleimplementations, ear coupling 115 may be formed of a material distinctfrom the casing 110, or may be formed integrally with the casing 110.

FIG. 2 f depicts another two-way communications handset physicalconfiguration 1500 f of the personal ANR device 1000 that issubstantially similar to the physical configuration 1500 e, but in whichthe casing 110 is shaped somewhat more appropriately for portablewireless communications use, possibly incorporating user interfacecontrols and/or display(s) to enable the dialing of phone numbers and/orthe selection of radio frequency channels without the use of a cradlebase.

FIGS. 3 a and 3 b depict possible internal architectures, either ofwhich may be employed by the ANR circuit 2000 in implementations of thepersonal ANR device 1000 in which the ANR circuit 2000 is at leastpartially made up of dynamically configurable digital circuitry. Inother words, the internal architectures of FIGS. 3 a and 3 b aredynamically configurable to adopt any of a wide variety of signalprocessing topologies and filter block topologies during operation ofthe ANR circuit 2000. FIGS. 4 a-g depict various examples of signalprocessing topologies that may be adopted by the ANR circuit 2000 inthis manner, and FIGS. 5 a-e depict various examples of filter blocktopologies that may also be adopted by the ANR circuit 2000 for usewithin an adopted signal processing topology in this manner. However,and as those skilled in the art will readily recognize, otherimplementations of the personal ANR device 1000 are possible in whichthe ANR circuit 2000 is largely or entirely implemented with analogcircuitry and/or digital circuitry lacking such dynamic configurability.

In implementations in which the circuitry of the ANR circuit 2000 is atleast partially digital, analog signals representing sounds that arereceived or output by the ANR circuit 2000 may require conversion intoor creation from digital data that also represents those sounds. Morespecifically, in both of the internal architectures 2200 a and 2200 b,analog signals received from the feedback microphone 120 and thefeedforward microphone 130, as well as whatever analog signalrepresenting pass-through audio may be received from either the audiosource 9400 or the communications microphone 140, are digitized byanalog-to-digital converters (ADCs) of the ANR circuit 2000. Also,whatever analog signal is provided to the acoustic driver 190 to causethe acoustic driver 190 to acoustically output anti-noise sounds and/orpass-through audio is created from digital data by a digital-to-analogconverter (DAC) of the ANR circuit 2000. Further, either analog signalsor digital data representing sounds may be manipulated to alter theamplitudes of those represented sounds by either analog or digitalforms, respectively, of variable gain amplifiers (VGAs).

FIG. 3 a depicts a possible internal architecture 2200 a of the ANRcircuit 2000 in which digital circuits that manipulate digital datarepresenting sounds are selectively interconnected through one or morearrays of switching devices that enable those interconnections to bedynamically configured during operation of the ANR circuit 2000. Such ause of switching devices enables pathways for movement of digital dataamong various digital circuits to be defined through programming. Morespecifically, blocks of digital filters of varying quantities and/ortypes are able to be defined through which digital data associated withfeedback-based ANR, feedforward-based ANR and pass-through audio arerouted to perform these functions. In employing the internalarchitecture 2200 a, the ANR circuit 2000 incorporates ADCs 210, 310 and410; a processing device 510; a storage 520; an interface (I/F) 530; aswitch array 540; a filter bank 550; and a DAC 910. Various possiblevariations may further incorporate one or more of analog VGAs 125, 135and 145; a VGA bank 560; a clock bank 570; a compression controller 950;a further ADC 955; and/or an audio amplifier 960.

The ADC 210 receives an analog signal from the feedback microphone 120,the ADC 310 receives an analog signal from the feedforward microphone130, and the ADC 410 receives an analog signal from either the audiosource 9400 or the communications microphone 140. As will be explainedin greater detail, one or more of the ADCs 210, 310 and 410 may receivetheir associated analog signals through one or more of the analog VGAs125, 135 and 145, respectively. The digital outputs of each of the ADCs210, 310 and 410 are coupled to the switch array 540. Each of the ADCs210, 310 and 410 may be designed to employ a variant of the widely knownsigma-delta analog-to-digital conversion algorithm for reasons of powerconservation and inherent ability to reduce digital data representingaudible noise sounds that might otherwise be introduced as a result ofthe conversion process. However, as those skilled in the art willreadily recognize, any of a variety of other analog-to-digitalconversion algorithms may be employed. Further, in some implementations,at least the ADC 410 may be bypassed and/or entirely dispensed withwhere at least the pass-through audio is provided to the ANR circuit2000 as digital data, rather than as an analog signal.

The filter bank 550 incorporates multiple digital filters, each of whichhas its inputs and outputs coupled to the switch array 540. In someimplementations, all of the digital filters within the filter bank 550are of the same type, while in other implementations, the filter bank550 incorporates a mixture of different types of digital filters. Asdepicted, the filter bank 550 incorporates a mixture of multipledownsampling filters 552, multiple biquadratic (biquad) filters 554,multiple interpolating filters 556, and multiple finite impulse response(FIR) filters 558, although other varieties of filters may beincorporated, as those skilled in the art will readily recognize.Further, among each of the different types of digital filters may bedigital filters optimized to support different data transfer rates. Byway of example, differing ones of the biquad filters 554 may employcoefficient values of differing bit-widths, or differing ones of the FIRfilters 558 may have differing quantities of taps. The VGA bank 560 (ifpresent) incorporates multiple digital VGAs, each of which has itsinputs and outputs coupled to the switch array 540. Also, the DAC 910has its digital input coupled to the switch array 540. The clock bank570 (if present) provides multiple clock signal outputs coupled to theswitch array 540 that simultaneously provide multiple clock signals forclocking data between components at selected data transfer rates and/orother purposes. In some implementations, at least a subset of themultiple clock signals are synchronized multiples of one another tosimultaneously support different data transfer rates in differentpathways in which the movement of data at those different data transferrates in those different pathways is synchronized.

The switching devices of the switch array 540 are operable toselectively couple different ones of the digital outputs of the ADCs210, 310 and 410; the inputs and outputs of the digital filters of thefilter bank 550; the inputs and outputs of the digital VGAs of the VGAbank 560; and the digital input of the DAC 910 to form a set ofinterconnections therebetween that define a topology of pathways for themovement of digital data representing various sounds. The switchingdevices of the switch array 540 may also be operable to selectivelycouple different ones of the clock signal outputs of the clock bank 570to different ones of the digital filters of the filter bank 550 and/ordifferent ones of the digital VGAs of the VGA bank 560. It is largely inthis way that the digital circuitry of the internal architecture 2200 ais made dynamically configurable. In this way, varying quantities andtypes of digital filters and/or digital VGAs may be positioned atvarious points along different pathways defined for flows of digitaldata associated with feedback-based ANR, feedforward-based ANR andpass-through audio to modify sounds represented by the digital dataand/or to derive new digital data representing new sounds in each ofthose pathways. Also, in this way, different data transfer rates may beselected by which digital data is clocked at different rates in each ofthe pathways.

In support of feedback-based ANR, feedforward-based ANR and/orpass-through audio, the coupling of the inputs and outputs of thedigital filters within the filter bank 550 to the switch array 540enables inputs and outputs of multiple digital filters to be coupledthrough the switch array 540 to create blocks of filters. As thoseskilled in the art will readily recognize, by combining multiplelower-order digital filters into a block of filters, multiplelower-order digital filters may be caused to cooperate to implementhigher order functions without the use of a higher-order filter.Further, in implementations having a variety of types of digitalfilters, blocks of filters may be created that employ a mix of filtersto perform a still greater variety of functions. By way of example, withthe depicted variety of filters within the filter bank 550, a filterblock (i.e., a block of filters) may be created having at least one ofthe downsampling filters 552, multiple ones of the biquad filters 554,at least one of the interpolating filters 556, and at least one of theFIR filters 558.

In some implementations, at least some of the switching devices of theswitch array 540 may be implemented with binary logic devices enablingthe switch array 540, itself, to be used to implement basic binary mathoperations to create summing nodes where pathways along which differentpieces of digital data flow are brought together in a manner in whichthose different pieces of digital data are arithmetically summed,averaged, and/or otherwise combined. In such implementations, the switcharray 540 may be based on a variant of dynamically programmable array oflogic devices. Alternatively and/or additionally, a bank of binary logicdevices or other form of arithmetic logic circuitry (not shown) may alsobe incorporated into the ANR circuit 2000 with the inputs and outputs ofthose binary logic devices and/or other form of arithmetic logiccircuitry also being coupled to the switch array 540.

In the operation of switching devices of the switch array 540 to adopt atopology by creating pathways for the flow of data representing sounds,priority may be given to creating a pathway for the flow of digital dataassociated with feedback-based ANR that has as low a latency as possiblethrough the switching devices. Also, priority may be given in selectingdigital filters and VGAs that have as low a latency as possible fromamong those available in the filter bank 550 and the VGA bank 560,respectively. Further, coefficients and/or other settings provided todigital filters of the filter bank 550 that are employed in the pathwayfor digital data associated with feedback-based ANR may be adjusted inresponse to whatever latencies are incurred from the switching devicesof the switch array 540 employed in defining the pathway. Such measuresmay be taken in recognition of the higher sensitivity of feedback-basedANR to the latencies of components employed in performing the functionof deriving and/or acoustically outputting feedback anti-noise sounds.Although such latencies are also of concern in feedforward-based ANR,feedforward-based ANR is generally less sensitive to such latencies thanfeedback-based ANR. As a result, a degree of priority less than thatgiven to feedback-based ANR, but greater than that given to pass-throughaudio, may be given to selecting digital filters and VGAs, and tocreating a pathway for the flow of digital data associated withfeedforward-based ANR.

The processing device 510 is coupled to the switch array 540, as well asto both the storage 520 and the interface 530. The processing device 510may be any of a variety of types of processing device, including and notlimited to, a general purpose central processing unit (CPU), a digitalsignal processor (DSP), a reduced instruction set computer (RISC)processor, a microcontroller, or a sequencer. The storage 520 may bebased on any of a variety of data storage technologies, including andnot limited to, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static randomaccess memory (SRAM), ferromagnetic disc storage, optical disc storage,or any of a variety of nonvolatile solid state storage technologies.Indeed, the storage 520 may incorporate both volatile and nonvolatileportions. Further, it will be recognized by those skilled in the artthat although the storage 520 is depicted and discussed as if it were asingle component, the storage 520 may be made up of multiple components,possibly including a combination of volatile and nonvolatile components.The interface 530 may support the coupling of the ANR circuit 2000 toone or more digital communications buses, including digital serial busesby which the storage device 170 (not to be confused with the storage520) and/or other devices external to the ANR circuit 2000 (e.g., otherprocessing devices, or other ANR circuits) may be coupled. Further, theinterface 530 may provide one or more general purpose input/output(GPIO) electrical connections and/or analog electrical connections tosupport the coupling of manually-operable controls, indicator lights orother devices, such as a portion of the power source 180 providing anindication of available power.

In some implementations, the processing device 510 accesses the storage520 to read a sequence of instructions of a loading routine 522, thatwhen executed by the processing device 510, causes the processing device510 to operate the interface 530 to access the storage device 170 toretrieve one or both of the ANR routine 525 and the ANR settings 527,and to store them in the storage 520. In other implementations, one orboth of the ANR routine 525 and the ANR settings 527 are stored in anonvolatile portion of the storage 520 such that they need not beretrieved from the storage device 170, even if power to the ANR circuit2000 is lost.

Regardless of whether one or both of the ANR routine 525 and the ANRsettings 527 are retrieved from the storage device 170, or not, theprocessing device 510 accesses the storage 520 to read a sequence ofinstructions of the ANR routine 525. The processing device 510 thenexecutes that sequence of instructions, causing the processing device510 to configure the switching devices of the switch array 540 to adopta topology defining pathways for flows of digital data representingsounds and/or to provide differing clock signals to one or more digitalfilters and/or VGAs, as previously detailed. In some implementations,the processing device 510 is caused to configure the switching devicesin a manner specified by a portion of the ANR settings 527, which theprocessing device 510 is also caused to read from the storage 520.Further, the processing device 510 is caused to set filter coefficientsof various digital filters of the filter bank 550, gain settings ofvarious VGAs of the VGA bank 560, and/or clock frequencies of the clocksignal outputs of the clock bank 570 in a manner specified by a portionof the ANR settings 527.

In some implementations, the ANR settings 527 specify multiple sets offilter coefficients, gain settings, clock frequencies and/orconfigurations of the switching devices of the switch array 540, ofwhich different sets are used in response to different situations. Inother implementations, execution of sequences of instructions of the ANRroutine 525 causes the processing device 510 to derive different sets offilter coefficients, gain settings, clock frequencies and/or switchingdevice configurations in response to different situations. By way ofexample, the processing device 510 may be caused to operate theinterface 530 to monitor a signal from the power source 180 that isindicative of the power available from the power source 180, and todynamically switch between different sets of filter coefficients, gainsettings, clock frequencies and/or switching device configurations inresponse to changes in the amount of available power.

By way of another example, the processing device 510 may be caused tomonitor characteristics of sounds represented by digital data involvedin feedback-based ANR, feedforward-based ANR and/or pass-through audioto determine whether or not it is desirable to alter the degreefeedback-based and/or feedforward-based ANR provided. As will befamiliar to those skilled in the art, while providing a high degree ofANR can be very desirable where there is considerable environmentalnoise to be attenuated, there can be other situations where theprovision of a high degree of ANR can actually create a noisier orotherwise more unpleasant acoustic environment for a user of a personalANR device than would the provision of less ANR. Therefore, theprocessing device 510 may be caused to alter the provision of ANR toadjust the degree of attenuation and/or the range of frequencies ofenvironmental noise attenuated by the ANR provided in response toobserved characteristics of one or more sounds. Further, as will also befamiliar to those skilled in the art, where a reduction in the degree ofattenuation and/or the range of frequencies is desired, it may bepossible to simplify the quantity and/or type of filters used inimplementing feedback-based and/or feedforward-based ANR, and theprocessing device 510 may be caused to dynamically switch betweendifferent sets of filter coefficients, gain settings, clock frequenciesand/or switching device configurations to perform such simplifying, withthe added benefit of a reduction in power consumption.

The DAC 910 is provided with digital data from the switch array 540representing sounds to be acoustically output to an ear of a user of thepersonal ANR device 1000, and converts it to an analog signalrepresenting those sounds. The audio amplifier 960 receives this analogsignal from the DAC 910, and amplifies it sufficiently to drive theacoustic driver 190 to effect the acoustic output of those sounds.

The compression controller 950 (if present) monitors the sounds to beacoustically output for an indication of their amplitude being too high,indications of impending instances of clipping, actual instances ofclipping, and/or other impending or actual instances of other audioartifacts. The compression controller 150 may either directly monitordigital data provided to the DAC 910 or the analog signal output by theaudio amplifier 960 (through the ADC 955, if present). In response tosuch an indication, the compression controller 950 may alter gainsettings of one or more of the analog VGAs 125, 135 and 145 (ifpresent); and/or one or more of the VGAs of the VGA bank 560 placed in apathway associated with one or more of the feedback-based ANR,feedforward-based ANR and pass-through audio functions to adjustamplitude, as will be explained in greater detail. Further, in someimplementations, the compression controller 950 may also make such anadjustment in response to receiving an external control signal. Such anexternal signal may be provided by another component coupled to the ANRcircuit 2000 to provide such an external control signal in response todetecting a condition such as an exceptionally loud environmental noisesound that may cause one or both of the feedback-based andfeedforward-based ANR functions to react unpredictably.

FIG. 3 b depicts another possible internal architecture 2200 b of theANR circuit 2000 in which a processing device accesses and executesstored machine-readable sequences of instructions that cause theprocessing device to manipulate digital data representing sounds in amanner that can be dynamically configured during operation of the ANRcircuit 2000. Such a use of a processing device enables pathways formovement of digital data of a topology to be defined throughprogramming. More specifically, digital filters of varying quantitiesand/or types are able to be defined and instantiated in which each typeof digital filter is based on a sequence of instructions. In employingthe internal architecture 2200 b, the ANR circuit 2000 incorporates theADCs 210, 310 and 410; the processing device 510; the storage 520; theinterface 530; a direct memory access (DMA) device 540; and the DAC 910.Various possible variations may further incorporate one or more of theanalog VGAs 125, 135 and 145; the ADC 955; and/or the audio amplifier960. The processing device 510 is coupled directly or indirectly via oneor more buses to the storage 520; the interface 530; the DMA device 540;the ADCs 210, 310 and 410; and the DAC 910 to at least enable theprocessing device 510 to control their operation. The processing device510 may also be similarly coupled to one or more of the analog VGAs 125,135 and 145 (if present); and to the ADC 955 (if present).

As in the internal architecture 2200 a, the processing device 510 may beany of a variety of types of processing device, and once again, thestorage 520 may be based on any of a variety of data storagetechnologies and may be made up of multiple components. Further, theinterface 530 may support the coupling of the ANR circuit 2000 to one ormore digital communications buses, and may provide one or more generalpurpose input/output (GPIO) electrical connections and/or analogelectrical connections. The DMA device 540 may be based on a secondaryprocessing device, discrete digital logic, a bus mastering sequencer, orany of a variety of other technologies.

Stored within the storage 520 are one or more of a loading routine 522,an ANR routine 525, ANR settings 527, ANR data 529, a downsamplingfilter routine 553, a biquad filter routine 555, an interpolating filterroutine 557, a FIR filter routine 559, and a VGA routine 561. In someimplementations, the processing device 510 accesses the storage 520 toread a sequence of instructions of the loading routine 522, that whenexecuted by the processing device 510, causes the processing device 510to operate the interface 530 to access the storage device 170 toretrieve one or more of the ANR routine 525, the ANR settings 527, thedownsampling filter routine 553, the biquad filter routine 555, theinterpolating filter routine 557, the FIR routine 559 and the VGAroutine 561, and to store them in the storage 520. In otherimplementations, one or more of these are stored in a nonvolatileportion of the storage 520 such that they need not be retrieved from thestorage device 170.

As was the case in the internal architecture 2200 a, the ADC 210receives an analog signal from the feedback microphone 120, the ADC 310receives an analog signal from the feedforward microphone 130, and theADC 410 receives an analog signal from either the audio source 9400 orthe communications microphone 140 (unless the use of one or more of theADCs 210, 310 and 410 is obviated through the direct receipt of digitaldata). Again, one or more of the ADCs 210, 310 and 410 may receive theirassociated analog signals through one or more of the analog VGAs 125,135 and 145, respectively. As was also the case in the internalarchitecture 2200 a, the DAC 910 converts digital data representingsounds to be acoustically output to an ear of a user of the personal ANRdevice 1000 into an analog signal, and the audio amplifier 960 amplifiesthis signal sufficiently to drive the acoustic driver 190 to effect theacoustic output of those sounds.

However, unlike the internal architecture 2200 a where digital datarepresenting sounds were routed via an array of switching devices, suchdigital data is stored in and retrieved from the storage 520. In someimplementations, the processing device 510 repeatedly accesses the ADCs210, 310 and 410 to retrieve digital data associated with the analogsignals they receive for storage in the storage 520, and repeatedlyretrieves the digital data associated with the analog signal output bythe DAC 910 from the storage 520 and provides that digital data to theDAC 910 to enable the creation of that analog signal. In otherimplementations, the DMA device 540 (if present) transfers digital dataamong the ADCs 210, 310 and 410; the storage 520 and the DAC 910independently of the processing device 510. In still otherimplementations, the ADCs 210, 310 and 410 and/or the DAC 910incorporate “bus mastering” capabilities enabling each to write digitaldata to and/or read digital data from the storage 520 independently ofthe processing device 510. The ANR data 529 is made up of the digitaldata retrieved from the ADCs 210, 310 and 410, and the digital dataprovided to the DAC 910 by the processing device 510, the DMA device 540and/or bus mastering functionality.

The downsampling filter routine 553, the biquad filter routine 555, theinterpolating filter routine 557 and the FIR filter routine 559 are eachmade up of a sequence of instructions that cause the processing device510 to perform a combination of calculations that define a downsamplingfilter, a biquad filter, an interpolating filter and a FIR filter,respectively. Further, among each of the different types of digitalfilters may be variants of those digital filters that are optimized fordifferent data transfer rates, including and not limited to, differingbit widths of coefficients or differing quantities of taps. Similarly,the VGA routine 561 is made up of a sequence of instructions that causethe processing device 510 to perform a combination of calculations thatdefine a VGA. Although not specifically depicted, a summing node routinemay also be stored in the storage 520 made up of a sequence ofinstructions that similarly defines a summing node.

The ANR routine 525 is made up of a sequence of instructions that causethe processing device 510 to create a signal processing topology havingpathways incorporating varying quantities of the digital filters andVGAs defined by the downsampling filter routine 553, the biquad filterroutine 555, the interpolating filter routine 557, the FIR filterroutine 559 and the VGA routine 561 to support feedback-based ANR,feedforward-based ANR and/or pass-through audio. The ANR routine 525also causes the processing device 510 to perform the calculationsdefining each of the various filters and VGAs incorporated into thattopology. Further, the ANR routine 525 either causes the processingdevice 510 to perform the moving of data among ADCs 210, 310 and 410,the storage 520 and the DAC 910, or causes the processing device 510 tocoordinate the performance of such moving of data either by the DMAdevice 540 (if present) or by bus mastering operations performed by theADCs 210, 310 and 410, and/or the DAC 910.

The ANR settings 527 is made up of data defining topologycharacteristics (including selections of digital filters), filtercoefficients, gain settings, clock frequencies, data transfer ratesand/or data sizes. In some implementations, the topology characteristicsmay also define the characteristics of any summing nodes to beincorporated into the topology. The processing device 510 is caused bythe ANR routine 525 to employ such data taken from the ANR settings 527in creating a signal processing topology (including selecting digitalfilters), setting the filter coefficients for each digital filterincorporated into the topology, and setting the gains for each VGAincorporated into the topology. The processing device 510 may be furthercaused by the ANR routine 525 to employ such data from the ANR settings527 in setting clock frequencies and/or data transfer rates for the ADCs210, 310 and 410; for the digital filters incorporated into thetopology; for the VGAs incorporated into the topology; and for the DAC910.

In some implementations, the ANR settings 527 specify multiple sets oftopology characteristics, filter coefficients, gain settings, clockfrequencies and/or data transfer rates, of which different sets are usedin response to different situations. In other implementations, executionof sequences of instructions of the ANR routine 525 causes theprocessing device 510 to derive different sets of filter coefficients,gain settings, clock frequencies and/or data transfer rates for a givensignal processing topology in different situations. By way of example,the processing device 510 may be caused to operate the interface 530 tomonitor a signal from the power source 180 that is indicative of thepower available from the power source 180, and to employ different setsof filter coefficients, gain settings, clock frequencies and/or datatransfer rates in response to changes in the amount of available power.

By way of another example, the processing device 510 may be caused toalter the provision of ANR to adjust the degree of ANR required inresponse to observed characteristics of one or more sounds. Where areduction in the degree of attenuation and/or the range of frequenciesof noise sounds attenuated is possible and/or desired, it may bepossible to simplify the quantity and/or type of filters used inimplementing feedback-based and/or feedforward-based ANR, and theprocessing device 510 may be caused to dynamically switch betweendifferent sets of filter coefficients, gain settings, clock frequenciesand/or data transfer rates to perform such simplifying, with the addedbenefit of a reduction in power consumption.

Therefore, in executing sequences of instructions of the ANR routine525, the processing device 510 is caused to retrieve data from the ANRsettings 527 in preparation for adopting a signal processing topologydefining the pathways to be employed by the processing device 510 inproviding feedback-based ANR, feedforward-based ANR and pass-throughaudio. The processing device 510 is caused to instantiate multipleinstances of digital filters, VGAs and/or summing nodes, employingfilter coefficients, gain settings and/or other data from the ANRsettings 527. The processing device 510 is then further caused toperform the calculations defining each of those instances of digitalfilters, VGAs and summing nodes; to move digital data among thoseinstances of digital filters, VGAs and summing nodes; and to at leastcoordinate the moving of digital data among the ADCs 210, 310 and 410,the storage 520 and the DAC 910 in a manner that conforms to the dataretrieved from the ANR settings 527. At a subsequent time, the ANRroutine 525 may cause the processing device 510 to change the signalprocessing topology, a digital filter, filter coefficients, gainsettings, clock frequencies and/or data transfer rates during operationof the personal ANR device 1000. It is largely in this way that thedigital circuitry of the internal architecture 2200 b is madedynamically configurable. Also, in this way, varying quantities andtypes of digital filters and/or digital VGAs may be positioned atvarious points along a pathway of a topology defined for a flow ofdigital data to modify sounds represented by that digital data and/or toderive new digital data representing new sounds, as will be explained ingreater detail.

In some implementations, the ANR routine 525 may cause the processingdevice 510 to give priority to operating the ADC 210 and performing thecalculations of the digital filters, VGAs and/or summing nodespositioned along the pathway defined for the flow of digital dataassociated with feedback-based ANR. Such a measure may be taken inrecognition of the higher sensitivity of feedback-based ANR to thelatency between the detection of feedback reference sounds and theacoustic output of feedback anti-noise sounds.

The processing device 510 may be further caused by the ANR routine 525to monitor the sounds to be acoustically output for indications of theamplitude being too high, clipping, indications of clipping about tooccur, and/or other audio artifacts actually occurring or indications ofbeing about to occur. The processing device 510 may be caused to eitherdirectly monitor digital data provided to the DAC 910 or the analogsignal output by the audio amplifier 960 (through the ADC 955) for suchindications. In response to such an indication, the processing device510 may be caused to operate one or more of the analog VGAs 125, 135 and145 to adjust at least one amplitude of an analog signal, and/or may becaused to operate one or more of the VGAs based on the VGA routine 561and positioned within a pathway of a topology to adjust the amplitude ofat least one sound represented by digital data, as will be explained ingreater detail.

FIGS. 4 a through 4 g depict some possible signal processing topologiesthat may be adopted by the ANR circuit 2000 of the personal ANR device1000 of FIG. 1. As previously discussed, some implementations of thepersonal ANR device 1000 may employ a variant of the ANR circuit 2000that is at least partially programmable such that the ANR circuit 2000is able to be dynamically configured to adopt different signalprocessing topologies during operation of the ANR circuit 2000.Alternatively, other implementations of the personal ANR device 1000 mayincorporate a variant of the ANR circuit 2000 that is substantiallyinalterably structured to adopt one unchanging signal processingtopology.

As previously discussed, separate ones of the ANR circuit 2000 areassociated with each earpiece 100, and therefore, implementations of thepersonal ANR device 1000 having a pair of the earpieces 100 alsoincorporate a pair of the ANR circuits 2000. However, as those skilledin the art will readily recognize, other electronic componentsincorporated into the personal ANR device 1000 in support of a pair ofthe ANR circuits 2000, such as the power source 180, may not beduplicated. For the sake of simplicity of discussion and understanding,signal processing topologies for only a single ANR circuit 2000 arepresented and discussed in relation to FIGS. 4 a-g.

As also previously discussed, different implementations of the personalANR device 1000 may provide only one of either feedback-based ANR orfeedforward-based ANR, or may provide both. Further, differentimplementations may or may not additionally provide pass-through audio.Therefore, although signal processing topologies implementing all threeof feedback-based ANR, feedforward-based ANR and pass-through audio aredepicted in FIGS. 4 a-g, it is to be understood that variants of each ofthese signal processing topologies are possible in which only one or theother of these two forms of ANR is provided, and/or in whichpass-through audio is not provided. In implementations in which the ANRcircuit 2000 is at least partially programmable, which of these twoforms of ANR are provided and/or whether or not both forms of ANR areprovided may be dynamically selectable during operation of the ANRcircuit 2000.

FIG. 4 a depicts a possible signal processing topology 2500 a for whichthe ANR circuit 2000 may be structured and/or programmed. Where the ANRcircuit 2000 adopts the signal processing topology 2500 a, the ANRcircuit 2000 incorporates at least the DAC 910, the compressioncontroller 950, and the audio amplifier 960. Depending, in part onwhether one or both of feedback-based and feedforward-based ANR aresupported, the ANR circuit 2000 further incorporates one or more of theADCs 210, 310, 410 and/or 955; filter blocks 250, 350 and/or 450; and/orsumming nodes 270 and/or 290.

Where the provision of feedback-based ANR is supported, the ADC 210receives an analog signal from the feedback microphone 120 representingfeedback reference sounds detected by the feedback microphone 120. TheADC 210 digitizes the analog signal from the feedback microphone 120,and provides feedback reference data corresponding to the analog signaloutput by the feedback microphone 120 to the filter block 250. One ormore digital filters within the filter block 250 are employed to modifythe data from the ADC 210 to derive feedback anti-noise datarepresenting feedback anti-noise sounds. The filter block 250 providesthe feedback anti-noise data to the VGA 280, possibly through thesumming node 270 where feedforward-based ANR is also supported.

Where the provision of feedforward-based ANR is also supported, the ADC310 receives an analog signal from the feedforward microphone 130,digitizes it, and provides feedforward reference data corresponding tothe analog signal output by the feedforward microphone 130 to the filterblock 350. One or more digital filters within the filter block 350 areemployed to modify the feedforward reference data received from the ADC310 to derive feedforward anti-noise data representing feedforwardanti-noise sounds. The filter block 350 provides the feedforwardanti-noise data to the VGA 280, possibly through the summing node 270where feedback-based ANR is also supported.

At the VGA 280, the amplitude of one or both of the feedback andfeedforward anti-noise sounds represented by the data received by theVGA 280 (either through the summing node 270, or not) may be alteredunder the control of the compression controller 950. The VGA 280 outputsits data (with or without amplitude alteration) to the DAC 910, possiblythrough the summing nodes 290 where talk-through audio is alsosupported.

In some implementations where pass-through audio is supported, the ADC410 digitizes an analog signal representing pass-through audio receivedfrom the audio source 9400, the communications microphone 140 or anothersource and provides the digitized result to the filter block 450. Inother implementations where pass-through audio is supported, the audiosource 9400, the communications microphone 140 or another sourceprovides digital data representing pass-through audio to the filterblock 450 without need of analog-to-digital conversion. One or moredigital filters within the filter block 450 are employed to modify thedigital data representing the pass-through audio to derive a modifiedvariant of the pass-through audio data in which the pass-through audiomay be re-equalized and/or enhanced in other ways. The filter block 450provides the pass-through audio data to the summing node 290 where thepass-through audio data is combined with the data being provided by theVGA 280 to the DAC 910.

The analog signal output by the DAC 910 is provided to the audioamplifier 960 to be amplified sufficiently to drive the acoustic driver190 to acoustically output one or more of feedback anti-noise sounds,feedforward anti-noise sounds and pass-through audio. The compressioncontroller 950 controls the gain of the VGA 280 to enable the amplitudeof sound represented by data output by one or both of the filter blocks250 and 350 to be reduced in response to indications of impendinginstances of clipping, actual occurrences of clipping and/or otherundesirable audio artifacts being detected by the compression controller950. The compression controller 950 may either monitor the data beingprovided to the DAC 910 by the summing node 290, or may monitor theanalog signal output of the audio amplifier 960 through the ADC 955.

As further depicted in FIG. 4 a, the signal processing topology 2500 adefines multiple pathways along which digital data associated withfeedback-based ANR, feedforward-based ANR and pass-through audio flow.Where feedback-based ANR is supported, the flow of feedback referencedata and feedback anti-noise data among at least the ADC 210, the filterblock 250, the VGA 280 and the DAC 910 defines a feedback-based ANRpathway 200. Similarly, where feedforward-based ANR is supported, theflow of feedforward reference data and feedforward anti-noise data amongat least the ADC 310, the filter block 350, the VGA 280 and the DAC 910defines a feedforward-based ANR pathway 300. Further, where pass-throughaudio is supported, the flow of pass-through audio data and modifiedpass-through audio data among at least the ADC 410, the filter block450, the summing node 290 and the DAC 910 defines a pass-through audiopathway 400. Where both feedback-based and feedforward-based ANR aresupported, the pathways 200 and 300 both further incorporate the summingnode 270. Further, where pass-through audio is also supported, thepathways 200 and/or 300 incorporate the summing node 290.

In some implementations, digital data representing sounds may be clockedthrough all of the pathways 200, 300 and 400 that are present at thesame data transfer rate. Thus, where the pathways 200 and 300 arecombined at the summing node 270, and/or where the pathway 400 iscombined with one or both of the pathways 200 and 300 at the summingnode 400, all digital data is clocked through at a common data transferrate, and that common data transfer rate may be set by a commonsynchronous data transfer clock. However, as is known to those skilledin the art and as previously discussed, the feedforward-based ANR andpass-through audio functions are less sensitive to latencies than thefeedback-based ANR function. Further, the feedforward-based ANR andpass-through audio functions are more easily implemented withsufficiently high quality of sound with lower data sampling rates thanthe feedback-based ANR function. Therefore, in other implementations,portions of the pathways 300 and/or 400 may be operated at slower datatransfer rates than the pathway 200. Preferably, the data transfer ratesof each of the pathways 200, 300 and 400 are selected such that thepathway 200 operates with a data transfer rate that is an integermultiple of the data transfer rates selected for the portions of thepathways 300 and/or 400 that are operated at slower data transfer rates.

By way of example in an implementation in which all three of thepathways 200, 300 and 400 are present, the pathway 200 is operated at adata transfer rate selected to provide sufficiently low latency toenable sufficiently high quality of feedback-based ANR that theprovision of ANR is not unduly compromised (e.g., by having anti-noisesounds out-of-phase with the noise sounds they are meant to attenuate,or instances of negative noise reduction such that more noise isactually being generated than attenuated, etc.), and/or sufficientlyhigh quality of sound in the provision of at least the feedbackanti-noise sounds. Meanwhile, the portion of the pathway 300 from theADC 310 to the summing node 270 and the portion of the pathway 400 fromthe ADC 410 to the summing node 290 are both operated at lower datatransfer rates (either the same lower data transfer rates or differentones) that still also enable sufficiently high quality offeedforward-based ANR in the pathway 300, and sufficiently high qualityof sound in the provision of the feedforward anti-noise through thepathway 300 and/or pass-through audio through the pathway 400.

In recognition of the likelihood that the pass-through audio functionmay be even more tolerant of a greater latency and a lower sampling ratethan the feedforward-based ANR function, the data transfer rate employedin that portion of the pathway 400 may be still lower than the datatransfer rate of that portion of the pathway 300. To support suchdifferences in transfer rates in one variation, one or both of thesumming nodes 270 and 290 may incorporate sample-and-hold, buffering orother appropriate functionality to enable the combining of digital datareceived by the summing nodes 270 and 290 at different data transferrates. This may entail the provision of two different data transferclocks to each of the summing nodes 270 and 290. Alternatively, tosupport such differences in transfer rates in another variation, one orboth of the filter blocks 350 and 450 may incorporate an upsamplingcapability (perhaps through the inclusion of an interpolating filter orother variety of filter incorporating an upsampling capability) toincrease the data transfer rate at which the filter blocks 350 and 450provide digital data to the summing nodes 270 and 290, respectively, tomatch the data transfer rate at which the filter block 250 providesdigital data to the summing node 270, and subsequently, to the summingnode 290.

It may be that in some implementations, multiple power modes may besupported in which the data transfer rates of the pathways 300 and 400are dynamically altered in response to the availability of power fromthe power source 180 and/or in response to changing ANR requirements.More specifically, the data transfer rates of one or both of the pathway300 and 400 up to the points where they are combined with the pathway200 may be reduced in response to an indication of diminishing powerbeing available from the power supply 180 and/or in response to theprocessing device 510 detecting characteristics in sounds represented bydigital data indicating that the degree of attenuation and/or range offrequencies of noise sounds attenuated by the ANR provided can bereduced. In making determinations of whether or not such reductions indata transfer rates are possible, the processing device 510 may becaused to evaluate the effects of such reductions in data transfer rateson quality of sound through one or more of the pathways 200, 300 and400, and/or the quality of feedback-based and/or feed-forward based ANRprovided.

FIG. 4 b depicts a possible signal processing topology 2500 b for whichthe ANR circuit 2000 may be structured and/or programmed. Where the ANRcircuit 2000 adopts the signal processing topology 2500 b, the ANRcircuit 2000 incorporates at least the DAC 910, the audio amplifier 960,the ADC 210, a pair of summing nodes 230 and 270, and a pair of filterblocks 250 and 450. The ANR circuit 2000 may further incorporate one ormore of the ADC 410, the ADC 310, a filter block 350 and a summing node370.

The ADC 210 receives and digitizes an analog signal from the feedbackmicrophone 120 representing feedback reference sounds detected by thefeedback microphone 120, and provides corresponding feedback referencedata to the summing node 230. In some implementations, the ADC 410digitizes an analog signal representing pass-through audio received fromthe audio source 9400, the communications microphone 140 or anothersource and provides the digitized result to the filter block 450. Inother implementations, the audio source 9400, the communicationsmicrophone 140 or another source provides digital data representingpass-through audio to the filter block 450 without need ofanalog-to-digital conversion. One or more digital filters within thefilter block 450 are employed to modify the digital data representingthe pass-through audio to derive a modified variant of the pass-throughaudio data in which the pass-through audio may be re-equalized and/orenhanced in other ways. One or more digital filters within the filterblock 450 also function as a crossover that divides the modifiedpass-through audio data into higher and lower frequency sounds, withdata representing the higher frequency sounds being output to thesumming node 270, and data representing the lower frequency sounds beingoutput to the summing node 230. In various implementations, thecrossover frequency employed in the filter block 450 is dynamicallyselectable during operation of the ANR circuit 2000, and may be selectedto effectively disable the crossover function to cause data representingall frequencies of the modified pass-through audio to be output toeither of the summing nodes 230 or 270. In this way, the point at whichthe modified pass-through audio data is combined with data for thefeedback ANR function within the signal processing topology 2500 a canbe made selectable.

As just discussed, feedback reference data from the ADC 210 may becombined with data from the filter block 450 for the pass-through audiofunction (either the lower frequency sounds, or all of the modifiedpass-through audio) at the summing node 230. The summing node 230outputs the possibly combined data to the filter block 250. One or moredigital filters within the filter block 250 are employed to modify thedata from summing node 230 to derive modified data representing at leastfeedback anti-noise sounds and possibly further-modified pass-throughaudio sounds. The filter block 250 provides the modified data to thesumming node 270. The summing node 270 combines the data from the filterblock 450 that possibly represents higher frequency sounds of themodified pass-through audio with the modified data from the filter block250, and provides the result to the DAC 910 to create an analog signal.The provision of data by the filter block 450 to the summing node 270may be through the summing node 370 where the provision offeedforward-based ANR is also supported.

Where the crossover frequency employed in the filter block 450 isdynamically selectable, various characteristics of the filters making upthe filter block 450 may also be dynamically configurable. By way ofexample, the number and/or type of digital filters making up the filterblock 450 may be dynamically alterable, as well as the coefficients foreach of those digital filters. Such dynamic configurability may bedeemed desirable to correctly accommodate changes among having no datafrom the filter block 450 being combined with feedback reference datafrom the ADC 210, having data from the filter block 450 representinglower frequency sounds being combined with feedback reference data fromthe ADC 210, and having data representing all of the modifiedpass-through audio from the filter block 450 being combined withfeedback reference data from the ADC 210.

Where the provision of feedforward-based ANR is also supported, the ADC310 receives an analog signal from the feedforward microphone 130,digitizes it, and provides feedforward reference data corresponding tothe analog signal output by the feedforward microphone 130 to the filterblock 350. One or more digital filters within the filter block 350 areemployed to modify the feedforward reference data received from the ADC310 to derive feedforward anti-noise data representing feedforwardanti-noise sounds. The filter block 350 provides the feedforwardanti-noise data to the summing node 370 where the feedforward anti-noisedata is possibly combined with data that may be provided by the filterblock 450 (either the higher frequency sounds, or all of the modifiedpass-through audio).

The analog signal output by the DAC 910 is provided to the audioamplifier 960 to be amplified sufficiently to drive the acoustic driver190 to acoustically output one or more of feedback anti-noise sounds,feedforward anti-noise sounds and pass-through audio.

As further depicted in FIG. 4 b, the signal processing topology 2500 bdefines its own variations of the pathways 200, 300 and 400 along whichdigital data associated with feedback-based ANR, feedforward-based ANRand pass-through audio, respectively, flow. In a manner not unlike thepathway 200 of the signal processing topology 2500 a, the flow offeedback reference data and feedback anti-noise data among the ADC 210,the summing nodes 230 and 270, the filter block 250 and the DAC 910defines the feedback-based ANR pathway 200 of the signal processingtopology 2500 b. Where feedforward-based ANR is supported, in a mannernot unlike the pathway 300 of the signal processing topology 2500 a, theflow of feedforward reference data and feedforward anti-noise data amongthe ADC 310, the filter block 350, the summing nodes 270 and 370, andthe DAC 910 defines the feedforward-based ANR pathway 300 of the signalprocessing topology 2500 b. However, in a manner very much unlike thepathway 400 of the signal processing topology 2500 a, the ability of thefilter block 450 of the signal processing topology 2500 b to split themodified pass-through audio data into higher frequency and lowerfrequency sounds results in the pathway 400 of the signal processingtopology 2500 b being partially split. More specifically, the flow ofdigital data from the ADC 410 to the filter block 450 is split at thefilter block 450. One split portion of the pathway 400 continues to thesumming node 230, where it is combined with the pathway 200, beforecontinuing through the filter block 250 and the summing node 270, andending at the DAC 910. The other split portion of the pathway 400continues to the summing node 370 (if present), where it is combinedwith the pathway 300 (if present), before continuing through the summingnode 270 and ending at the DAC 910.

Also not unlike the pathways 200, 300 and 400 of the signal processingtopology 2500 a, the pathways 200, 300 and 400 of the signal processingtopology 2500 b may be operated with different data transfer rates.However, differences in data transfer rates between the pathway 400 andboth of the pathways 200 and 300 would have to be addressed.Sample-and-hold, buffering or other functionality may be incorporatedinto each of the summing nodes 230, 270 and/or 370. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the filter block 350 may incorporate interpolation orother upsampling capability in providing digital data to the summingnode 370, and/or the filter block 450 may incorporate a similarcapability in providing digital data to each of the summing nodes 230and 370 (or 270, if the pathway 300 is not present).

FIG. 4 c depicts another possible signal processing topology 2500 c forwhich the ANR circuit 2000 may be structured and/or programmed. Wherethe ANR circuit 2000 adopts the signal processing topology 2500 c, theANR circuit 2000 incorporates at least the DAC 910, the audio amplifier960, the ADC 210, the summing node 230, the filter blocks 250 and 450,the VGA 280, another summing node 290, and the compressor 950. The ANRcircuit 2000 may further incorporate one or more of the ADC 410, the ADC310, the filter block 350, the summing node 270, and the ADC 955. Thesignal processing topologies 2500 b and 2500 c are similar in numerousways. However, a substantial difference between the signal processingtopologies 2500 b and 2500 c is the addition of the compressor 950 inthe signal processing topology 2500 c to enable the amplitudes of thesounds represented by data output by both of the filter blocks 250 and350 to be reduced in response to the compressor 950 detecting actualinstances or indications of impending instances of clipping and/or otherundesirable audio artifacts.

The filter block 250 provides its modified data to the VGA 280 where theamplitude of the sounds represented by the data provided to the VGA 280may be altered under the control of the compression controller 950. TheVGA 280 outputs its data (with or without amplitude alteration) to thesumming node 290, where it may be combined with data that may be outputby the filter block 450 (perhaps the higher frequency sounds of themodified pass-through audio, or perhaps the entirety of the modifiedpass-through audio). In turn, the summing node 290 provides its outputdata to the DAC 910. Where the provision of feedforward-based ANR isalso supported, the data output by the filter block 250 to the VGA 280is routed through the summing node 270, where it is combined with thedata output by the filter block 350 representing feedforward anti-noisesounds, and this combined data is provided to the VGA 280.

FIG. 4 d depicts another possible signal processing topology 2500 d forwhich the ANR circuit 2000 may be structured and/or programmed. Wherethe ANR circuit 2000 adopts the signal processing topology 2500 d, theANR circuit 2000 incorporates at least the DAC 910, the compressioncontroller 950, the audio amplifier 960, the ADC 210, the summing nodes230 and 290, the filter blocks 250 and 450, the VGA 280, and still otherVGAs 445, 455 and 460. The ANR circuit 2000 may further incorporate oneor more of the ADCs 310 and/or 410, the filter block 350, the summingnode 270, the ADC 955, and still another VGA 360. The signal processingtopologies 2500 c and 2500 d are similar in numerous ways. However, asubstantial difference between the signal processing topologies 2500 cand 2500 d is the addition of the ability to direct the provision of thehigher frequency sounds of the modified pass-through audio to becombined with other audio at either or both of two different locationswithin the signal processing topology 2500 d.

One or more digital filters within the filter block 450 are employed tomodify the digital data representing the pass-through audio to derive amodified variant of the pass-through audio data and to function as acrossover that divides the modified pass-through audio data into higherand lower frequency sounds. Data representing the lower frequency soundsare output to the summing node 230 through the VGA 445. Datarepresenting the higher frequency sounds are output both to the summingnode 230 through the VGA 455 and to the DAC 910 through the VGA 460. TheVGAs 445, 455 and 460 are operable both to control the amplitudes of thelower frequency and higher frequency sounds represented by the dataoutput by the filter block 450, and to selectively direct the flow ofthe data representing the higher frequency sounds. However, as has beenpreviously discussed, the crossover functionality of the filter block450 may be employed to selectively route the entirety of the modifiedpass-through audio to one or the other of the summing node 230 and theDAC 910.

Where the provision of feedforward-based ANR is also supported, thepossible provision of higher frequency sounds (or perhaps the entiretyof the modified pass-through audio) by the filter block 450 through theVGA 460 and to the DAC 910 may be through the summing node 290. Thefilter block 350 provides the feedforward anti-noise data to the summingnode 270 through the VGA 360.

FIG. 4 e depicts another possible signal processing topology 2500 e forwhich the ANR circuit 2000 may be structured and/or programmed. Wherethe ANR circuit 2000 adopts the signal processing topology 2500 e, theANR circuit 2000 incorporates at least the DAC 910; the audio amplifier960; the ADCs 210 and 310; the summing nodes 230, 270 and 370; thefilter blocks 250, 350 and 450; the compressor 950; and a pair of VGAs240 and 340. The ANR circuit 2000 may further incorporate one or both ofthe ADCs 410 and 955. The signal processing topologies 2500 b, 2500 cand 2500 e are similar in numerous ways. The manner in which the dataoutput by each of the filter blocks 250, 350 and 450 are combined in thesignal processing topology 2500 e is substantially similar to that ofthe signal processing topology 2500 b. Also, like the signal processingtopology 2500 c, the signal processing topology 2500 e incorporates thecompression controller 950. However, a substantial difference betweenthe signal processing topologies 2500 c and 2500 e is the replacement ofthe single VGA 280 in the signal processing topology 2500 c for theseparately controllable VGAs 240 and 340 in the signal processingtopology 2500 e.

The summing node 230 provides data representing feedback referencesounds possibly combined with data that may be output by the filterblock 450 (perhaps the lower frequency sounds of the modifiedpass-through audio, or perhaps the entirety of the modified pass-throughaudio) to the filter block 250 through the VGA 240, and the ADC 310provides data representing feedforward reference sounds to the filterblock 350 through the VGA 340. The data output by the filter block 350is combined with data that may be output by the filter block 450(perhaps the higher frequency sounds of the modified pass-through audio,or perhaps the entirety of the modified pass-through audio) at thesumming node 370. In turn, the summing node 370 provides its data to thesumming node 270 to be combined with data output by the filter block250. The summing node 270, in turn, provides its combined data to theDAC 910.

The compression controller 950 controls the gains of the VGAs 240 and340, to enable the amplitude of the sounds represented by data output bythe summing node 230 and the ADC 310, respectively, to be reduced inresponse to actual instances or indications of upcoming instances ofclipping and/or other undesirable audio artifacts being detected by thecompression controller 950. The gains of the VGAs 240 and 340 may becontrolled in a coordinated manner, or may be controlled entirelyindependently of each other.

FIG. 4 f depicts another possible signal processing topology 2500 f forwhich the ANR circuit 2000 may be structured and/or programmed. Wherethe ANR circuit 2000 adopts the signal processing topology 2500 f, theANR circuit 2000 incorporates at least the DAC 910; the audio amplifier960; the ADCs 210 and 310; the summing nodes 230, 270 and 370; thefilter blocks 250, 350 and 450; the compressor 950; and the VGAs 125 and135. The ANR circuit 2000 may further incorporate one or both of theADCs 410 and 955. The signal processing topologies 2500 e and 2500 f aresimilar in numerous ways. However, a substantial difference between thesignal processing topologies 2500 e and 2500 f is the replacement of thepair of VGAs 240 and 340 in the signal processing topology 2500 e forthe VGAs 125 and 135 in the signal processing topology 2500 f.

The VGAs 125 and 135 positioned at the analog inputs to the ADCs 210 and310, respectively, are analog VGAs, unlike the VGAs 240 and 340 of thesignal processing topology 2500 e. This enables the compressioncontroller 950 to respond to actual occurrences and/or indications ofsoon-to-occur instances of clipping and/or other audio artifacts indriving the acoustic driver 190 by reducing the amplitude of one or bothof the analog signals representing feedback and feedforward referencesounds. This may be deemed desirable where it is possible for the analogsignals provided to the ADCs 210 and 310 to be at too great an amplitudesuch that clipping at the point of driving the acoustic driver 190 mightbe more readily caused to occur. The provision of the ability to reducethe amplitude of these analog signals (and perhaps also including theanalog signal provided to the ADC 410 via the VGA 145 depictedelsewhere) may be deemed desirable to enable balancing of amplitudesbetween these analog signals, and/or to limit the numeric values of thedigital data produced by one or more of the ADCs 210, 310 and 410 tolesser magnitudes to reduce storage and/or transmission bandwidthrequirements.

FIG. 4 g depicts another possible signal processing topology 2500 g forwhich the ANR circuit 2000 may be programmed or otherwise structured.Where the ANR circuit 2000 adopts the signal processing topology 2500 g,the ANR circuit 2000 incorporates at least the compression controller950, the DAC 910, the audio amplifier 960, the ADCs 210 and 310, a pairof VGAs 220 and 320, the summing nodes 230 and 270, the filter blocks250 and 350, another pair of VGAs 355 and 360, and the VGA 280. The ANRcircuit 2000 may further incorporate one or more of the ADC 410, thefilter block 450, still another VGA 460, the summing node 290, and theADC 955.

The ADC 210 receives an analog signal from the feedback microphone 120and digitizes it, before providing corresponding feedback reference datato the VGA 220. The VGA 220 outputs the feedback reference data,possibly after modifying its amplitude, to the summing node 230.Similarly, the ADC 310 receives an analog signal from the feedforwardmicrophone 130 and digitizes it, before providing correspondingfeedforward reference data to the VGA 320. The VGA 320 outputs thefeedforward reference data, possibly after modifying its amplitude, tothe filter block 350. One or more digital filters within the filterblock 350 are employed to modify the feedforward reference data toderive feedforward anti-noise data representing feedforward anti-noisesounds, and the filter block 350 provides the feedforward anti-noisedata to both of the VGAs 355 and 360. In various implementations, thegains of the VGAs 355 and 360 are dynamically selectable and can beoperated in a coordinated manner like a three-way switch to enable thefeedforward anti-noise data to be selectively provided to either of thesumming nodes 230 and 270. Thus, where the feedforward anti-noise datais combined with data related to feedback ANR within the signalprocessing topology 2500 g is made selectable.

Therefore, depending on the gains selected for the VGAs 355 and 360, thefeedforward anti-noise data from the filter block 350 may be combinedwith the feedback reference data from the ADC 210 at the summing node230, or may be combined with feedback anti-noise data derived by thefilter block 250 from the feedback reference data at the summing node270. If the feedforward anti-noise data is combined with the feedbackreference data at the summing node 230, then the filter block 250derives data representing a combination of feedback anti-noise soundsand further-modified feedforward anti-noise sounds, and this data isprovided to the VGA 280 through the summing node 270 at which nocombining of data occurs. Alternatively, if the feedforward anti-noisedata is combined with the feedback anti-noise data at the summing node270, then the feedback anti-noise data will have been derived by thefilter block 250 from the feedback reference data received through thesumming node 230 at which no combining of data occurs, and the dataresulting from the combining at the summing node 270 is provided to theVGA 280. With or without an alteration in amplitude, the VGA 280provides whichever form of combined data is received from the summingnode 270 to the DAC 910 to create an analog signal. This provision ofthis combined data by the VGA 280 may be through the summing node 290where the provision of pass-through audio is also supported.

Where the provision of pass-through audio is supported, the audio source9400 may provide an analog signal representing pass-through audio to beacoustically output to a user, and the ADC 410 digitizes the analogsignal and provides pass-through audio data corresponding to the analogsignal to the filter block 450. Alternatively, where the audio source9400 provides digital data representing pass-through audio, such digitaldata may be provided directly to the filter block 450. One or moredigital filters within the filter block 450 may be employed to modifythe digital data representing the pass-through audio to derive amodified variant of the pass-through audio data that may be re-equalizedand/or enhanced in other ways. The filter block 450 provides themodified pass-through audio data to the VGA 460, and either with orwithout altering the amplitude of the pass-through audio soundsrepresented by the modified pass-through audio data, the VGA 460provides the modified pass-through audio data to the DAC 910 through thesumming node 290.

The compression controller 950 controls the gain of the VGA 280 toenable the amplitude of whatever combined form of feedback andfeedforward anti-noise sounds are received by the VGA 280 to be reducedunder the control of the compression controller 950 in response toactual occurrences and/or indications of impending instances of clippingand/or other audio artifacts.

FIGS. 5 a through 5 e depict some possible filter block topologies thatmay be employed in creating one or more blocks of filters (such asfilter blocks 250, 350 and 450) within signal processing topologiesadopted by the ANR circuit 2000 (such as the signal processingtopologies 2500 a-g). It should be noted that the designation of amultitude of digital filters as a “filter block” is an arbitraryconstruct meant to simplify the earlier presentation of signalprocessing topologies. In truth, the selection and positioning of one ormore digital filters at any point along any of the pathways (such as thepathways 200, 300 and 400) of any signal processing topology may beaccomplished in a manner identical to the selection and positioning ofVGAs and summing nodes. Therefore, it is entirely possible for variousdigital filters to be positioned along a pathway for the movement ofdata in a manner in which those digital filters are interspersed amongVGAs and/or summing nodes such that no distinguishable block of filtersis created. Or, as will be illustrated, it is entirely possible for afilter block to incorporate a summing node or other component as part ofthe manner in which the filters of a filter block are coupled as part ofthe filter topology of a filter block.

However, as previously discussed, multiple lower-order digital filtersmay be combined in various ways to perform the equivalent function ofone or more higher-order digital filters. Thus, although the creation ofdistinct filter blocks is not necessary in defining a pathway havingmultiple digital filters, it can be desirable in numerous situations.Further, the creation of a block of filters at a single point along apathway can more easily enable alterations in the characteristics offiltering performed in that pathway. By way of example, multiplelower-order digital filters connected with no other componentsinterposed between them can be dynamically configured to cooperate toperform any of a variety of higher-order filter functions by simplychanging their coefficients and/or changing the manner in which they areinterconnected. Also, in some implementations, such closeinterconnection of digital filters may ease the task of dynamicallyconfiguring a pathway to add or remove digital filters with a minimum ofchanges to the interconnections that define that pathway.

It should be noted that the selections of types of filters, quantitiesof filters, interconnections of filters and filter topologies depictedin each of FIGS. 5 a through 5 e are meant to serve as examples tofacilitate understanding, and should not be taken as limiting the scopeof what is described or the scope of what is claimed herein.

FIG. 5 a depicts a possible filter block topology 3500 a for which theANR circuit 2000 may be structured and/or programmed to define a filterblock, such as one of the filter blocks 250, 350 and 450. The filterblock topology 3500 a is made up of a serial chain of digital filterswith a downsampling filter 652 at its input; biquad filters 654, 655 and656; and a FIR filter 658 at its output.

As more explicitly depicted in FIG. 5 a, in some implementations, theANR circuit 2000 employs the internal architecture 2200 a such that theANR circuit 2000 incorporates the filter bank 550 incorporatingmultitudes of the downsampling filters 552, the biquad filters 554, andthe FIR filters 558. One or more of each of the downsampling filters552, biquad filters 554 and FIR filters 558 may be interconnected in anyof a number of ways via the switch array 540, including in a way thatdefines the filter block topology 3500 a. More specifically, thedownsampling filter 652 is one of the downsampling filters 552; thebiquad filters 654, 655 and 656 are each one of the biquad filters 554;and the FIR filter 658 is one of the FIR filters 558.

Alternatively, and as also more explicitly depicted in FIG. 5 a, inother implementations, the ANR circuit 2000 employs the internalarchitecture 2200 b such that the ANR circuit 2000 incorporates astorage 520 in which is stored the downsampling filter routine 553, thebiquad filter routine 555 and the FIR filter routine 559. Varyingquantities of downsampling, biquad and/or FIR filters may beinstantiated within available storage locations of the storage 520 withany of a variety of interconnections defined between them, includingquantities of filters and interconnections that define the filter blocktopology 3500 a. More specifically, the downsampling filter 652 is aninstance of the downsampling filter routine 553; the biquad filters 654,655 and 656 are each instances of the biquad filter routine 555; and theFIR filter 658 is an instance of the FIR filter routine 559.

As previously discussed, power conservation and/or other benefits may berealized by employing different data transfer rates along differentpathways of digital data representing sounds in a signal processingtopology. In support of converting between different data transferrates, including where one pathway operating at one data transfer rateis coupled to another pathway operating at another data transfer rate,different data transfer clocks may be provided to different ones of thedigital filters within a filter block, and/or one or more digitalfilters within a filter block may be provided with multiple datatransfer clocks.

By way of example, FIG. 5 a depicts a possible combination of differentdata transfer rates that may be employed within the filter blocktopology 3500 a to support digital data being received at one datatransfer rate, digital data being transferred among these digitalfilters at another data transfer rate, and digital data being output atstill another data transfer rate. More specifically, the downsamplingfilter 652 receives digital data representing a sound at a data transferrate 672, and at least downsamples that digital data to a lower datatransfer rate 675. The lower data transfer rate 675 is employed intransferring digital data among the downsampling filter 652, the biquadfilters 654-656, and the FIR filter 658. The FIR filter 658 at leastupsamples the digital data that it receives from the lower data transferrate 675 to a higher data transfer rate 678 as that digital data isoutput by the filter block to which the digital filters in the filterblock topology 3500 a belong. Many other possible examples of the use ofmore than one data transfer rate within a filter block and the possiblecorresponding need to employ multiple data transfer clocks within afilter block will be clear to those skilled in the art.

FIG. 5 b depicts a possible filter block topology 3500 b that issubstantially similar to the filter block topology 3500 a, but in whichthe FIR filter 658 of the filter block topology 3500 a has been replacedwith an interpolating filter 657. Where the internal architecture 2200 ais employed, such a change from the filter block topology 3500 a to thefilter block topology 3500 b entails at least altering the configurationof the switch array 540 to exchange one of the FIR filters 558 with oneof the interpolating filters 556. Where the internal architecture 2200 bis employed, such a change entails at least replacing the instantiationof the FIR filter routine 559 that provides the FIR filter 658 with aninstantiation of the interpolating filter routine 557 to provide theinterpolating filter 657

FIG. 5 c depicts a possible filter block topology 3500 c that is made upof the same digital filters as the filter block topology 3500 b, but inwhich the interconnections between these digital filters have beenreconfigured into a branching topology to provide two outputs, whereasthe filter block topology 3500 b had only one. Where the internalarchitecture 2200 a is employed, such a change from the filter blocktopology 3500 b to the filter block topology 3500 c entails at leastaltering the configuration of the switch array 540 to disconnect theinput to the biquad filter 656 from the output of the biquad filter 655,and to connect that input to the output of the downsampling filter 652,instead. Where the internal architecture 2200 b is employed, such achange entails at least altering the instantiation of biquad filterroutine 555 that provides the biquad filter 656 to receive its inputfrom the instantiation of the downsampling filter routine 553 thatprovides the downsampling filter 652. The filter block topology 3500 cmay be employed where it is desired that a filter block be capable ofproviding two different outputs in which data representing audioprovided at the input is altered in different ways to create twodifferent modified versions of that data, such as in the case of thefilter block 450 in each of the signal processing topologies 2500 b-f.

FIG. 5 d depicts another possible filter block topology 3500 d that issubstantially similar to the filter block topology 3500 a, but in whichthe biquad filters 655 and 656 have been removed to shorten the chain ofdigital filters from the quantity of five in the filter block topology3500 a to a quantity of three.

FIG. 5 e depicts another possible filter block topology 3500 e that ismade up of the same digital filters as the filter block topology 3500 b,but in which the interconnections between these digital filters havebeen reconfigured to put the biquad filters 654, 655 and 656 in aparallel configuration, whereas these same filters were in a serialchain configuration in the filter block topology 3500 b. As depicted,the output of the downsampling filter 652 is coupled to the inputs ofall three of the biquad filters 654, 655 and 656, and the outputs of allthree of these biquad filters are coupled to the input of theinterpolating filter 657 through an additionally incorporated summingnode 659.

Taken together, the FIGS. 5 a through 5 e depict the manner in which agiven filter block topology of a filter block is dynamicallyconfigurable to so as to allow the types of filters, quantities offilters and/or interconnections of digital filters to be altered duringthe operation of a filter block. However, as those skilled in the artwill readily recognize, such changes in types, quantities andinterconnections of digital filters are likely to require correspondingchanges in filter coefficients and/or other settings to be made toachieve the higher-order filter function sought to be achieved with suchchanges. As will be discussed in greater detail, to avoid or at leastmitigate the creation of audible distortions or other undesired audioartifacts arising from making such changes during the operation of thepersonal ANR device, such changes in interconnections, quantities ofcomponents (including digital filters), types of components, filtercoefficients and/or VGA gain values are ideally buffered so as to enabletheir being made in a manner coordinated in time with one or more datatransfer rates.

The dynamic configurability of both of the internal architectures 2200 aand 2200 b, as exemplified throughout the preceding discussion ofdynamically configurable signal processing topologies and dynamicallyconfigurable filter block topologies, enables numerous approaches toconserving power and to reducing audible artifacts caused by theintroduction of microphone self noise, quantization errors and otherinfluences arising from components employed in the personal ANR device1000. Indeed, there can be a synergy between achieving both goals, sinceat least some measures taken to reduce audible artifacts generated bythe components of the personal ANR device 1000 can also result inreductions in power consumption. Reductions in power consumption can beof considerable importance given that the personal ANR device 1000 ispreferably powered from a battery or other portable source of electricpower that is likely to be somewhat limited in ability to provideelectric power.

In either of the internal architectures 2200 a and 2200 b, theprocessing device 510 may be caused by execution of a sequence ofinstructions of the ANR routine 525 to monitor the availability of powerfrom the power source 180. Alternatively and/or additionally, theprocessing device 510 may be caused to monitor characteristics of one ormore sounds (e.g., feedback reference and/or anti-noise sounds,feedforward reference and/or anti-noise sounds, and/or pass-throughaudio sounds) and alter the degree of ANR provided in response to thecharacteristics observed. As those familiar with ANR will readilyrecognize, it is often the case that providing an increased degree ofANR often requires the implementation of a more complex transferfunction, which often requires a greater number of filters and/or morecomplex types of filters to implement, and this in turn, often leads togreater power consumption. Analogously, a lesser degree of ANR oftenrequires the implementation of a simpler transfer function, which oftenrequires fewer and/or simpler filters, which in turn, often leads toless power consumption.

Further, there can arise situations, such as an environment withrelatively low environmental noise levels or with environmental noisesounds occurring within a relatively narrow range of frequencies, wherethe provision of a greater degree of ANR can actually result in thecomponents used in providing the ANR generating noise sounds greaterthan the attenuated environmental noise sounds. Still further, and aswill be familiar to those skilled in the art of feedback-based ANR,under some circumstances, providing a considerable degree offeedback-based ANR can lead to instability as undesirable audiblefeedback noises are produced.

In response to either an indication of diminishing availability ofelectric power or an indication that a lesser degree of ANR is needed(or is possibly more desirable), the processing device 510 may disableone or more functions (including one or both of feedback-based andfeedforward-based ANR), lower data transfer rates of one or morepathways, disable branches within pathways, lower data transfer ratesbetween digital filters within a filter block, replace digital filtersthat consume more power with digital filters that consume less power,reduce the complexity of a transfer function employed in providing ANR,reduce the overall quantity of digital filters within a filter block,and/or reduce the gain to which one or more sounds are subjected byreducing VGA gain settings and/or altering filter coefficients. However,in taking one or more of these or other similar actions, the processingdevice 510 may be further caused by the ANR routine 525 to estimate adegree of reduction in the provision of ANR that balances one or both ofthe goals of reducing power consumption and avoiding the provision oftoo great a degree of ANR with one or both of the goals of maintaining apredetermined desired degree of quality of sound and quality of ANRprovided to a user of the personal ANR device 1000. A minimum datatransfer rate, a maximum signal-to-noise ratio or other measure may beused as the predetermined degree of quality or ANR and/or sound.

As an example, and referring back to the signal processing topology 2500a of FIG. 4 a in which the pathways 200, 300 and 400 are explicitlydepicted, a reduction in the degree of ANR provided and/or in theconsumption of power may be realized through turning off one or more ofthe feedback-based ANR, feedforward-based ANR and pass-through audiofunctions. This would result in at least some of the components alongone or more of the pathways 200, 300 and 400 either being operated toenter a low power state in which operations involving digital data wouldcease within those components, or being substantially disconnected fromthe power source 180. A reduction in power consumption and/or degree ofANR provided may also be realized through lowering the data transferrate(s) of at least portions of one or more of the pathways 200, 300 and400, as previously discussed in relation to FIG. 4 a.

As another example, and referring back to the signal processing topology2500 b of FIG. 4 b in which the pathways 200, 300 and 400 are alsoexplicitly depicted, a reduction in power consumption and/or in thecomplexity of transfer functions employed may be realized throughturning off the flow of data through one of the branches of the split inthe pathway 400. More specifically, and as previously discussed inrelation to FIG. 4 b, the crossover frequency employed by the digitalfilters within the filter block 450 to separate the modifiedpass-through audio into higher frequency and lower frequency sounds maybe selected to cause the entirety of the modified pass-through audio tobe directed towards only one of the branches of the pathway 400. Thiswould result in discontinuing of the transfer of modified pass-throughaudio data through one or the other of the summing nodes 230 and 370,thereby enabling a reduction in power consumption and/or in theintroduction of noise sounds from components by allowing the combiningfunction of one or the other of these summing nodes to be disabled or atleast to not be utilized. Similarly, and referring back to the signalprocessing topology 2500 d of FIG. 4 d (despite the lack of explicitmarking of its pathways), either the crossover frequency employed by thefilter block 450 or the gain settings of the VGAs 445, 455 and 460 maybe selected to direct the entirety of the modified pass-through audiodata down a single one of the three possible pathway branches into whicheach of these VGAs lead. Thus, a reduction in power consumption and/orin the introduction of noise sounds would be enabled by allowing thecombining function of one or the other of the summing nodes 230 and 290to be disabled or at least not be utilized. Still further, one or moreof the VGAs 445, 455 and 460 through which modified pass-through audiodata is not being transferred may be disabled.

As still another example, and referring back to the filter blocktopology 3500 a of FIG. 5 a in which the allocation of three datatransfer rates 672, 675 and 678 are explicitly depicted, a reduction inthe degree of ANR provided and/or in power consumption may be realizedthrough lowering one or more of these data transfer rates. Morespecifically, within a filter block adopting the filter block topology3500 a, the data transfer rate 675 at which digital data is transferredamong the digital filters 652, 654-656 and 658 may be reduced. Such achange in a data transfer rate may also be accompanied by exchanging oneor more of the digital filters for variations of the same type ofdigital filter that are better optimized for lower bandwidthcalculations. As will be familiar to those skilled in the art of digitalsignal processing, the level of calculation precision required tomaintain a desired predetermined degree of quality of sound and/orquality of ANR in digital processing changes as sampling rate changes.Therefore, as the data transfer rate 675 is reduced, one or more of thebiquad filters 654-656 which may have been optimized to maintain adesired degree of quality of sound and/or desired degree of quality ofANR at the original data transfer rate may be replaced with othervariants of biquad filter that are optimized to maintain substantiallythe same quality of sound and/or ANR at the new lower data transfer ratewith a reduced level of calculation precision that also reduces powerconsumption. This may entail the provision of different variants of oneor more of the different types of digital filter that employ coefficientvalues of differing bit widths and/or incorporate differing quantitiesof taps.

As still other examples, and referring back to the filter blocktopologies 3500 c and 3500 d of FIGS. 5 c and 5 d, respectively, as wellas to the filter block topology 3500 a, a reduction in the degree of ANRprovided and/or in power consumption may be realized through reducingthe overall quantity of digital filters employed in a filter block. Morespecifically, the overall quantity of five digital filters in the serialchain of the filter block topology 3500 a may be reduced to the overallquantity of three digital filters in the shorter serial chain of thefilter block topology 3500 d. As those skilled in the art would readilyrecognize, such a change in the overall quantity of digital filterswould likely need to be accompanied by a change in the coefficientsprovided to the one or more of the digital filters that remain, since itis likely that the transfer function(s) performed by the original fivedigital filters would have to be altered or replaced by transferfunction(s) that are able to be performed with the three digital filtersthat remain. Also more specifically, the overall quantity of fivedigital filters in the branching topology of the filter block topology3500 c may be reduced to an overall quantity of three digital filters byremoving or otherwise deactivating the filters of one of the branches(e.g., the biquad filter 656 and the interpolating filter 657 of onebranch that provides one of the two outputs). This may be done inconcert with selecting a crossover frequency for a filter blockproviding a crossover function to effectively direct all frequencies ofa sound represented by digital data to only one of the two outputs,and/or in concert with operating one or more VGAs external to a filterblock to remove or otherwise cease the transfer of digital data througha branch of a signal processing topology.

Reductions in data transfer rates may be carried out in various ways ineither of the internal architectures 2200 a and 2200 b. By way ofexample in the internal architecture 2200 a, various ones of the datatransfer clocks provided by the clock bank 570 may be directed throughthe switch array 540 to differing ones of the digital filters, VGAs andsumming nodes of a signal processing topology and/or filter blocktopology to enable the use of multiple data transfer rates and/orconversions between different data transfer rates by one or more ofthose components. By way of example in the internal architecture 2200 b,the processing device 510 may be caused to execute the sequences ofinstructions of the various instantiations of digital filters, VGAs andsumming nodes of a signal processing topology and/or filter blocktopology at intervals of differing lengths of time. Thus, the sequencesof instructions for one instantiation of a given component are executedat more frequent intervals to support a higher data transfer rate thanthe sequences of instructions for another instantiation of the samecomponent where a lower data transfer rate is supported.

As yet another example, and referring back to any of theearlier-depicted signal processing topologies and/or filter blocktopologies, a reduction in the degree of ANR provided and/or in powerconsumption may be realized through the reduction of the gain to whichone or more sounds associated with the provision of ANR (e.g., feedbackreference and/or anti-noise sounds, or feedforward reference and/oranti-noise sounds). Where a VGA is incorporated into at least one of afeedback-based ANR pathway and a feedforward-based ANR pathway, the gainsetting of that VGA may be reduced. Alternatively and/or additionally,and depending on the transfer function implemented by a given digitalfilter, one or more coefficients of that digital filter may be alteredto reduce the gain imparted to whatever sounds are represented by thedigital data output by that digital filter. As will be familiar to thoseskilled in the art, reducing a gain in a pathway can reduce theperceptibility of noise sounds generated by components. In a situationwhere there is relatively little in the way of environmental noisesounds, noise sounds generated by components can become more prevalent,and thus, reducing the noise sounds generated by the components canbecome more important than generating anti-noise sounds to attenuatewhat little in the way of environmental noise sounds may be present. Insome implementations, such reduction(s) in gain in response torelatively low environmental noise sound levels may enable the use oflower cost microphones.

In some implementations, performing such a reduction in gain at somepoint along a feedback-based ANR pathway may prove more useful thanalong a feedforward-based ANR pathway, since environmental noise soundstend to be more attenuated by the PNR provided by the personal ANRdevice before ever reaching the feedback microphone 120. As a result ofthe feedback microphone 120 tending to be provided with weaker variantsof environmental noise sounds than the feedforward microphone 130, thefeedback-based ANR function may be more easily susceptible to asituation in which noise sounds introduced by components become moreprevalent than environmental noise sounds at times when there isrelatively little in the way of environmental noise sounds. A VGA may beincorporated into a feedback-based ANR pathway to perform this functionby normally employing a gain value of 1 which would then be reduced to ½or to some other preselected lower value in response to the processingdevice 510 and/or another processing device external to the ANR circuit2000 and to which the ANR circuit 2000 is coupled determining thatenvironmental noise levels are low enough that noise sounds generated bycomponents in the feedback-based ANR pathway are likely to besignificant enough that such a gain reduction is more advantageous thanthe production of feedback anti-noise sounds.

The monitoring of characteristics of environmental noise sounds as partof determining whether or not changes in ANR settings are to be made mayentail any of a number of approaches to measuring the strength,frequencies and/or other characteristics of the environmental noisesounds. In some implementations, a simple sound pressure level (SPL) orother signal energy measurement without weighting may be taken ofenvironmental noise sounds as detected by the feedback microphone 120and/or the feedforward microphone 130 within a preselected range offrequencies. Alternatively, the frequencies within the preselected rangeof frequencies of a SPL or other signal energy measurement may subjectedto the widely known and used “A-weighted” frequency weighting curvedeveloped to reflect the relative sensitivities of the average human earto different audible frequencies.

FIGS. 6 a through 6 c depict aspects and possible implementations oftriple-buffering both to enable synchronized ANR setting changes and toenable a failsafe response to an occurrence and/or to indications of alikely upcoming occurrence of an out-of-bound condition, including andnot limited to, clipping and/or excessive amplitude of acousticallyoutput sounds, production of a sound within a specific range offrequencies that is associated with a malfunction, instability of atleast feedback-based ANR, or other condition that may generate undesiredor uncomfortable acoustic output. Each of these variations oftriple-buffering incorporate at least a trio of buffers 620 a, 620 b and620 c. In each depicted variation of triple-buffering, two of thebuffers 620 a and 620 b are alternately employed during normal operationof the ANR circuit 2000 to synchronously update desired ANR settings “onthe fly,” including and not limited to, topology interconnections, dataclock settings, data width settings, VGA gain settings, and filtercoefficient settings. Also, in each depicted variation oftriple-buffering, the third buffer 620 c maintains a set of ANR settingsdeemed to be “conservative” or “failsafe” settings that may be resortedto bring the ANR circuit 2000 back into stable operation and/or back tosafe acoustic output levels in response to an out-of-bound conditionbeing detected.

As will be familiar to those skilled in the art of controlling digitalsignal processing for audio signals, it is often necessary to coordinatethe updating of various audio processing settings to occur duringintervals between the processing of pieces of audio data, and it isoften necessary to cause the updating of at least some of those settingsto be made during the same interval. Failing to do so can result in theincomplete programming of filter coefficients, an incomplete ormalformed definition of a transfer function, or other mismatchedconfiguration issue that can result in undesirable sounds being createdand ultimately acoustically output, including and not limited to, suddenpopping or booming noises that can surprise or frighten a listener,sudden increases in volume that are unpleasant and can be harmful to alistener, or howling feedback sounds in the case of updatingfeedback-based ANR settings that can also be harmful.

In some implementations, the buffers 620 a-c of any of FIGS. 6 a-c arededicated hardware-implemented registers, the contents of which are ableto be clocked into registers within the VGAs, the digital filters, thesumming nodes, the clocks of the clock bank 570 (if present), switcharray 540 (if present), the DMA device 541 (if present) and/or othercomponents. In other implementations, the buffers 620 a-c of FIGS. 6 a-care assigned locations within the storage 520, the contents of which areable to be retrieved by the processing device 510 and written by theprocessing device 510 into other locations within the storage 520associated with instantiations of the VGAs, digital filters, and summingnodes, and/or written by the processing device 510 into registers withinthe clocks of the clock bank 570 (if present), the switch array 540 (ifpresent), the DMA device 541 (if present) and/or other components.

FIG. 6 a depicts the triple-buffering of VGA settings, including gainvalues, employing variants of the buffers 620 a-c that each storediffering ones of VGA settings 626. An example of a use of suchtriple-buffering of VGA gain values may be the compression controller950 operating one or more VGAs to reduce the amplitude of soundsrepresented by digital data in response to detecting occurrences and/orindications of impending occurrences of clipping and/or other audibleartifacts in the acoustic output of the acoustic driver 190. In someimplementations, the compression controller 950 stores new VGA settingsinto a selected one of the buffers 620 a and 620 b. At a subsequent timethat is synchronized to the flow of pieces of digital data through oneor more of the VGAs, the settings stored in the selected one of thebuffers 620 a and 620 b are provided to those VGAs, thereby avoiding thegeneration of audible artifacts. As those skilled in the art willreadily recognize, the compression controller 950 may repeatedly updatethe gain settings of VGAs over a period of time to “ramp down” theamplitude of one or more sounds to a desired level of amplitude, ratherthan to immediately reduce the amplitude to that desired level. In sucha situation, the compression controller 950 would alternate betweenstoring updated gain settings to the buffer 620 a and storing updatedgain settings to the buffer 620 b, thereby enabling the decoupling ofthe times at which each of the buffers 620 a and 620 b are each writtento by the compression controller 950 and the times at which each of thebuffers provide their stored VGA settings to the VGAs. However, a set ofmore conservatively selected VGA settings is stored in the buffer 620 c,and these failsafe settings may be provided to the VGAs in response toan out-of-bound condition being detected. Such provision of the VGAsettings stored in the buffer 620 c overrides the provision of any VGAsettings stored in either of the buffers 620 a and 620 b.

FIG. 6 b depicts the triple-buffering of filter settings, includingfilter coefficients, employing variants of the buffers 620 a-c that eachstore differing ones of filter settings 625. An example of a use of suchtriple-buffering of filter coefficients may be adjusting the range offrequencies and/or the degree of attenuation of noise sounds that arereduced in the feedback-based ANR provided by the personal ANR device1000. In some implementations, processing device 510 is caused by theANR routine 525 to store new filter coefficients into a selected one ofthe buffers 620 a and 620 b. At a subsequent time that is synchronizedto the flow of pieces of digital data through one or more of the digitalfilters, the settings stored in the selected one of the buffers 620 aand 620 b are provided to those digital filters, thereby avoiding thegeneration of audible artifacts. Another example of a use of suchtriple-buffering of filter coefficients may be adjusting the crossoverfrequency employed by the digital filters within the filter block 450 insome of the above signal processing topologies to divide the sounds ofthe modified pass-through audio into lower and higher frequency sounds.At a time synchronized to at least the flow of pieces of digital dataassociated with pass-through audio through the digital filters of thefilter block 450, filter settings stored in one or the other of thebuffers 620 a and 620 b are provided to at least some of the digitalfilters.

FIG. 6 c depicts the triple-buffering of either all or a selectablesubset of clock, VGA, filter and topology settings, employing variantsof the buffers 620 a-c that each store differing ones of topologysettings 622, filter settings 625, VGA settings 626 and clock settings627. An example of a use of triple-buffering of all of these settingsmay be changing from one signal processing topology to another inresponse to a user of the personal ANR device 1000 operating a controlto activate a “talk-through” feature in which the ANR provided by thepersonal ANR device 1000 is altered to enable the user to more easilyhear the voice of another person without having to remove the personalANR device 1000 or completely turn off the ANR function. The processingdevice 510 may be caused to store the settings required to specify a newsignal processing topology in which voice sounds are more readily ableto pass to the acoustic driver 190 from the feedforward microphone 130,and the various settings of the VGAs, digital filters, data clocksand/or other components of the new signal processing topology within oneor the other of the buffers 620 a and 620 b. Then, at a timesynchronized to the flow of at least some pieces of digital datarepresenting sounds through at least one component (e.g., an ADC, a VGA,a digital filter, a summing node, or a DAC), the settings are used tocreate the interconnections for the new signal processing topology (bybeing provided to the switch array 540, if present) and are provided tothe components that are to be used in the new signal processingtopology.

However, some variants of the triple-buffering depicted in FIG. 6 c mayfurther incorporate a mask 640 providing the ability to determine whichsettings are actually updated as either of the buffers 620 a and 620 bprovide their stored contents to one or more components. In someembodiments, bit locations within the mask are selectively set to either1 or 0 to selectively enable the contents of different ones of thesettings corresponding to each of the bit locations to be provided toone or more components when the contents of one or the other of thebuffers 620 a and 620 b are to provide updated settings to thecomponents. The granularity of the mask 640 may be such that eachindividual setting may be selectively enabled for updating, or may besuch that the entirety of each of the topology settings 622, the filtersettings 625, the VGA setting 626 and the clock setting 627 are able tobe selected for updating through the topology settings mask 642, thefilter settings mask 645, the VGA settings mask 646 and the clocksettings mask 647, respectively.

FIGS. 7 a and 7 b each depict variations of a number of possibleadditions to the internal architectures 2200 a and 2200 b, respectively,of the ANR circuit 2000. Therefore, it should be noted that for sake ofsimplicity of discussion, only portions of the internal architectures2200 a and 2200 b associated with these possible additions are depicted.Some of these possible additions rely on the use of the interface 530coupling the ANR circuit 2000 to other devices via at least one bus 535.Others of these possible additions rely on the use of the interface 530to receive a signal from at least one manually-operable control.

More particularly, in executing a sequence of instructions of theloading routine 522 to possibly retrieve at least some of the contentsof the ANR settings 527 from an external storage device (e.g., thestorage device 170), the processing device 510 may be caused toconfigure the ANR circuit 2000 to accept those contents from an externalprocessing device 9100, instead. Also, to better enable the use ofadaptive algorithms in providing feedback-based and/or feedforward-basedANR functions, the external processing device 9100 may be coupled to theANR circuit 2000 to augment the functionality of the ANR circuit 2000with analysis of statistical information concerning feedback referencesounds, feedforward reference sounds and/or pass-through audio, whereside-chain information is provided from downsampling and/or otherfilters either built into or otherwise connected to one or more of theADCs 210, 310 and 410. Further, to enable cooperation between two of theANR circuits 2000 to achieve a form of binaural feedforward-based ANR,each one of the ANR circuits 2000 may transmit copies of feedforwardreference data to the other. Still further, one or more of the ANRcircuit 2000 and/or the external processing device 9100 may monitor amanually-operable talk-through control 9300 for instances of beingmanually operated by a user to make use of a talk-through function.

The ANR circuit 2000 may accept an input from the talk-through control9300 coupled to the ANR circuit 2000 directly, through another ANRcircuit 2000 (if present), or through the external processing device9100 (if present). Where the personal ANR device 1000 incorporates twoof the ANR circuit 2000, the talk-through control 9300 may be directlycoupled to the interface 530 of each one of the ANR circuit 2000, or maybe coupled to a single one of the external processing device 9100 (ifpresent) that is coupled to both of the ANR circuits 2000, or may becoupled to a pair of the external processing devices 9100 (if present)where each one of the processing devices 9100 is separately coupled to aseparate one of each of the ANR circuits 2000.

Regardless of the exact manner in which the talk-through control 9300 iscoupled to other component(s), upon the talk-through control 9300 beingdetected as having been manually operated, the provision of at leastfeedforward-based ANR is altered such that attenuation of sounds in thehuman speech band detected by the feedforward microphone 130 is reduced.In this way, sounds in the human speech band detected by the feedforwardmicrophone 130 are actually conveyed through at least a pathway fordigital data associated with feedforward-based ANR to be acousticallyoutput by the acoustic driver 190, while other sounds detected by thefeedforward microphone 130 continue to be attenuated throughfeedforward-based ANR. In this way, a user of the personal ANR device1000 is still able to have the benefits of at least some degree offeedforward-based ANR to counter environmental noise sounds, while alsobeing able to hear the voice of someone talking nearby.

As will be familiar to those skilled in the art, there is some variationin what range of frequencies is generally accepted as defining the humanspeech band from ranges as wide as 300 Hz to 4 KHz to ranges as narrowas 1 KHz to 3 KHz. In some implementations, the processing device 510and/or the external processing device 9100 (if present) is caused torespond to the user operating the talk-through control 9300 by alteringANR settings for at least the filters in the pathway forfeedforward-based ANR to reduce the range of frequencies ofenvironmental noise sounds attenuated through feedforward-based ANR suchthat the feedforward-based ANR function is substantially restricted toattenuating frequencies below whatever range of frequencies is selectedto define the human speech band for the personal ANR device 1000.Alternatively, the ANR settings for at least those filters are alteredto create a “notch” for a form of the human speech band amidst the rangeof frequencies of environmental noise sounds attenuated byfeedforward-based ANR, such that feedforward-based ANR attenuatesenvironmental noise sounds occurring in frequencies below that humanspeech band and above that human speech band to a considerably greaterdegree than sounds detected by the feedforward microphone 130 that arewithin that human speech band. Either way, at least one or more filtercoefficients are altered to reduce attenuation of sounds in the humanspeech band. Further, the quantity and/or types of filters employed inthe pathway for feedforward-based ANR may be altered, and/or the pathwayfor feedforward-based ANR itself may be altered.

Although not specifically depicted, an alternative approach to providinga form of talk-through function that is more amenable to the use ofanalog filters would be to implement a pair of parallel sets of analogfilters that are each able to support the provision of feedforward-basedANR functionality, and to provide a form of manually-operabletalk-through control that causes one or more analog signals representingfeedforward-based ANR to be routed to and/or from one or the other ofthe parallel sets of analog filters. One of the parallel sets of analogfilters is configured to provide feedforward-based ANR withoutaccommodating talk-through functionality, while the other of theparallel sets of filters is configured to provide feedforward-based ANRin which sounds within a form of the human speech band are attenuated toa lesser degree. Something of a similar approach could be implementedwithin the internal architecture 2200 a as yet another alternative, inwhich a form of manually-operable talk-through control directly operatesat least some of the switching devices within the switch array 540 toswitch the flow of digital data between two parallel sets of digitalfilters.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an implementation of a possible loadingsequence by which at least some of the contents of the ANR settings 527to be stored in the storage 520 may be provided across the bus 535 fromeither the external storage device 170 or the processing device 9100.This loading sequence is intended to allow the ANR circuit 2000 to beflexible enough to accommodate any of a variety of scenarios withoutalteration, including and not limited to, only one of the storage device170 and the processing device 9100 being present on the bus 535, and oneor the other of the storage device 170 and the processing device 9100not providing such contents despite both of them being present on thebus. The bus 535 may be either a serial or parallel digital electronicbus, and different devices coupled to the bus 535 may serve as a busmaster at least coordinating data transfers.

Upon being powered up and/or reset, the processing device 510 accessesthe storage 520 to retrieve and execute a sequence of instructions ofthe loading routine 522. Upon executing the sequence of instructions, at632, the processing device 510 is caused to operate the interface 530 tocause the ANR circuit 2000 to enter master mode in which the ANR circuit2000 becomes a bus master on the bus 535, and then the processing device510 further operates the interface 530 to attempt to retrieve data (suchas part of the contents of the ANR settings 527) from a storage devicealso coupled to the bus 535, such as the storage device 170. If, at 633,the attempt to retrieve data from a storage device succeeds, then theprocessing device 510 is caused to operate the interface 530 to causethe ANR circuit 2000 to enter a slave mode on the bus 535 to enableanother processing device on the bus 535 (such as the processing device9100) to transmit data to the ANR circuit 2000 (including at least partof the contents of the ANR settings 527) at 634.

However, if at 633, the attempt to retrieve data from a storage devicefails, then the processing device 510 is caused to operate the interface530 to cause the ANR circuit 2000 to enter a slave mode on the bus 535to enable receipt of data from an external processing device (such asthe external processing device 9100) at 635. At 636, the processingdevice 510 is further caused to await the receipt of such data fromanother processing device for a selected period of time. If, at 637,such data is received from another processing device, then theprocessing device 510 is caused to operate the interface 530 to causethe ANR circuit 2000 to remain in a slave mode on the bus 535 to enablethe other processing device on the bus 535 to transmit further data tothe ANR circuit 2000 at 638. However, if at 637, no such data isreceived from another processing device, then the processing device 510is caused to operate the interface 530 to cause the ANR circuit 2000 toreturn to being a bus master on the bus 535 and to again attempt toretrieve such data from a storage device at 632.

FIGS. 9 a and 9 b each depict a manner in which either of the internalarchitectures 2200 a and 2200 b may support the provision of side-chaindata to the external processing device 9100, possibly to enable theprocessing device 9100 to add adaptive features to feedback-based and/orfeedforward-based ANR functions performed by the ANR circuit 2000. Inessence, while the ANR circuit 2000 performs the filtering and otheraspects of deriving feedback and feedforward anti-noise sounds, as wellas combining those anti-noise sounds with pass-through audio, theprocessing device 9100 performs analyses of various characteristics offeedback and/or feedforward reference sounds detected by the microphones120 and/or 130. Where the processing device 9100 determines that thereis a need to alter the signal processing topology of the ANR circuit2000 (including altering a filter block topology of one of the filterblocks 250, 350 and 450), alter VGA gain values, alter filtercoefficients, alter clock timings by which data is transferred, etc.,the processing device 9100 provides new ANR settings to the ANR circuit2000 via the bus 535. As previously discussed, those new ANR settingsmay be stored in one or the other of the buffers 620 a and 620 b inpreparation for those new ANR settings to be provided to componentswithin the ANR circuit 2000 with a timing synchronized to one or moredata transfer rates at which pieces of digital data representing soundsare conveyed between components within the ANR circuit 2000. Indeed, inthis way, the provision of ANR by the ANR circuit 2000 can also be madeadaptive.

In supporting such cooperation between the ANR circuit 2000 and theexternal processing device 9100, it may be deemed desirable to providecopies of the feedback reference data, the feedforward reference dataand/or the pass-through audio data to the processing device 9100 withoutmodification. However, it is contemplated that such data may be sampledat high clock frequencies, possibly on the order of 1 MHz for each ofthe feedback reference data, the feedforward reference data and thepass-through audio data. Thus, providing copies of all of such data atsuch high sampling rates through the bus 535 to the processing device9100 may place undesirably high burdens on the ANR circuit 2000, as wellas undesirably increase the power consumption requirements of the ANRcircuit 2000. Further, at least some of the processing that may beperformed by the processing device 9100 as part of such cooperation withthe ANR circuit 2000 may not require access to such complete copies ofsuch data. Therefore, implementations of the ANR circuit 2000 employingeither of the internal architectures 2200 a and 2200 b may support theprovision of lower speed side-chain data made up of such data at lowersampling rates and/or various metrics concerning such data to theprocessing device 9100.

FIG. 9 a depicts an example variant of the ADC 310 having the ability tooutput both feedforward reference data representative of the feedforwardreference analog signal received by the ADC 310 from the feedforwardmicrophone 130 and corresponding side-chain data. This variant of theADC 310 incorporates a sigma-delta block 322, a primary downsamplingblock 323, a secondary downsampling block 325, a bandpass filter 326 anda RMS block 327. The sigma-delta block 322 performs at least a portionof a typical sigma-delta analog-to-digital conversion of the analogsignal received by the ADC 310, and provides the feedforward referencedata at a relatively high sampling rate to the primary downsamplingblock 323. The primary downsampling block 323 employs any of a varietyof possible downsampling (and/or decimation) algorithms to derive avariant of the feedforward reference data at a more desirable samplingrate to whatever combination of VGAs, digital filters and/or summingnodes is employed in deriving feedforward anti-noise data representinganti-noise sounds to be acoustically output by the acoustic driver 190.However, the primary downsampling block 323 also provides a copy of thefeedforward reference data to the secondary downsampling block 325 toderive a further downsampled (and/or decimated) variant of thefeedforward reference data. The secondary downsampling block 325 thenprovides the further downsampled variant of the feedforward referencedata to the bandpass filter 326 where a subset of the sounds representedby the further downsampled feedforward reference data that are within aselected range of frequencies are allowed to be passed on to the RMSblock 327. The RMS block 327 calculates RMS values of the furtherdownsampled feedforward reference data within the selected range offrequencies of the bandpass filter 326, and then provides those RMSvalues to the interface 530 for transmission via the bus 535 to theprocessing device 9100.

It should be noted that although the above example involved the ADC 310and digital data associated with the provision of feedforward-based ANR,similar variations of either of the ADCs 210 and 410 involving either ofthe feedback-based ANR and pass-through audio, respectively, arepossible. Also possible are alternate variations of the ADC 310 (or ofeither of the ADCs 210 and 410) that do not incorporate the secondarydownsampling block 325 such that further downsampling (and/ordecimating) is not performed before data is provided to the bandpassfilter 326, alternate variations that employ an A-weighted or B-weightedfilter in place of or in addition to the bandpass filter 326, alternatevariations that replace the RMS block 327 with another block performinga different form of signal strength calculation (e.g., an absolute valuecalculation), and alternate variations not incorporating the bandpassfilter 326 and/or the RMS block 327 such that the downsampled (and/ordecimated) output of the secondary downsampling block 325 is moreconveyed to the interface with less or substantially no modification.

FIG. 9 b depicts an example variant of the filter block 350 having theability to output both feedforward anti-noise data and side-chain datacorresponding to the feedforward reference data received by the filterblock 350. As has been previously discussed at length, the quantity,type and interconnections of filters within the filter blocks 250, 350and 450 (i.e., their filter block topologies) are each able to bedynamically selected as part of the dynamic configuration capabilitiesof either of the internal architectures 2200 a and 2200 b. Therefore,this variant of the filter block 350 may be configured with any of avariety of possible filter block topologies in which both of thefunctions of deriving feedforward anti-noise data and side-chain dataare performed.

FIGS. 10 a and 10 b each depict a manner in which either of the internalarchitectures 2200 a and 2200 b may support binaural feedforward-basedANR in which feedforward reference data is shared between a pair of theANR circuits 2000 (with each incarnation of the ANR circuit 2000providing feedforward-based ANR to a separate one of a pair of theearpieces 100). In some implementations of the personal ANR device 1000having a pair of the earpieces 100, feedforward reference datarepresenting sounds detected by separate feedforward microphones 130associated with each of the earpieces 100 is provided to both of theseparate ANR circuits 2000 associated with each of the earpieces. Thisis accomplished through an exchange of feedforward reference data acrossa bus connecting the pair of ANR circuits 2000.

FIG. 10 a depicts an example addition to a signal processing topology(perhaps, any one of the signal processing topologies previouslypresented in detail) that includes a variant of the filter block 350having the ability to accept the input of feedforward reference datafrom two different feedforward microphones 130. More specifically, thefilter block 350 is coupled to the ADC 310 to more directly receivefeedforward reference data from the feedforward microphone 130 that isassociated with the same one of the earpieces to which the one of theANR circuits 2000 in which the filter block 350 resides is alsoassociated. This coupling between the ADC 310 and the filter block 350is made in one of the ways previously discussed with regard to theinternal architectures 2200 a and 2200 b. However, the filter block 350is also coupled to the interface 530 to receive other feedforwardreference data from the feedforward microphone 130 that is associatedwith the other of the earpieces 100 through the interface 530 from theANR circuit 2000 that is also associated with the other of the earpieces100. Correspondingly, the output of the ADC 310 by which feedforwardreference data is provided to the filter block 350 is also coupled tothe interface 530 to transmit its feedforward reference data to the ANRcircuit 2000 associated with the other one of the earpieces 100 throughthe interface 530. The ANR circuit 2000 associated with the other one ofthe earpieces 100 employs this same addition to its signal processingtopology with the same variant of its filter block 350, and these twoincarnations of the ANR circuit 2000 exchange feedforward reference datathrough their respective ones of the interface 530 across the bus 535 towhich both incarnations of the ANR circuit 2000 are coupled.

FIG. 10 b depicts another example addition to a signal processingtopology that includes a variant of the filter block 350. However, thisvariant of the filter block 350 is involved in the transmission offeedforward reference data to the ANR circuit 2000 associated with theother one of the earpieces 100, in addition to being involved in thereception of feedforward reference data from that other incarnation ofthe ANR circuit 2000. Such additional functionality may be incorporatedinto the filter block 350 in implementations in which it is desired toin some way filter or otherwise process feedforward reference databefore it is transmitted to the other incarnation of the ANR circuit2000.

FIG. 11 depicts signal processing topology aspects of a coordinatedcompression of feedback and feedforward reference sounds in response tooccurrences of excessively high environmental noise sound levels. Insituations where environmental noise sounds reach sufficiently highlevels of acoustic energy, one or both of feedback-based andfeedforward-based ANR may be overloaded to the extent that the provisionof ANR is compromised, and possibly to the extent that acoustic noise isactually generated. FIG. 11 presents a simplified depiction of additionsand/or modifications that may be made to some signal processingtopologies (such as the signal processing topologies 2500 a through 2500g of FIGS. 4 a through 4 g, respectively) to perform such coordinatedcompression in such situations.

Regarding feedforward-based ANR, the diaphragm of the feedforwardmicrophone 130 may be vibrated by such high environmental noise soundlevels to such an extent that the voltage levels of the electricalsignal output by the feedforward microphone 130 that is meant torepresent the feedforward reference sounds may cease to have a linearrelationship with the physical movement of its diaphragm, possibly tothe extent that clipping occurs in that electrical signal. If such aclipped non-linear electrical signal is then used as a representation offeedforward reference sounds, then a clipped form of feedforwardanti-noise sounds will be created that will be incapable of providingeffective feedforward-based ANR. Further, the result may also be thegeneration of feedforward anti-noise sounds that actually includeadditional noise that effectively bring about a resulting amplificationof environmental noise sounds as those clipped feedforward anti-noisesounds are acoustically output by the acoustic driver 190.

Further, regardless of whether or not feedforward anti-noise sounds aregenerated from a distorted electrical signal that is meant to representfeedforward reference noise sounds, such high environmental noise levelscan cause the generation of feedforward and/or feedback anti-noisesounds having an amplitude sufficient that clipping occurs in theacoustic output of one or both of those anti-noise sounds as a result oflimitations in the audio amplifier 960 and/or the acoustic driver 190being reached. As those skilled in the art will readily recognize,occurrences of clipping (or other acoustic artifacts) in the acousticoutput of sounds can cause those output sounds to be distorted. Wherethis happens to anti-noise sounds, the result can be a reduction in thedegree of ANR provided, and possibly the generation of additional noisesounds.

As has been previously discussed, both generally and more specificallyin reference to the signal processing topologies 2500 f-g depicted inFIGS. 4 f-g, respectively, the compression controller 950 may respond toany of a number of events by operating the VGAs 125 and 135 (ifpresent), the VGAs 220 and 320 (if present) and/or other VGAs that maybe present to reduce the gain to which the feedback reference sounds andfeedforward reference sounds, respectively, are subjected prior to beingprovided to various filters for the generation of anti-noise sounds(e.g., filter blocks 250 and 350). As has also been previouslydiscussed, a pair of VGAs, such as the pair of analog VGAs 125 and 135or the pair of digital VGAs 220 and 320, may be controlled in acoordinated manner, possibly to balance the relative amplitudes ofanalog signals representing the feedback and feedforward referencesounds, and/or possibly to limit the numeric values of digital dataconveyed with digital signals representing the feedback and feedforwardreference sounds. In other words, a pair of VGAs, such as the pair ofanalog VGAs 125 and 135 or the pair of digital VGAs 220 and 320, may becontrolled in a coordinated manner balance the relative amplitudes offeedback and feedforward reference sounds (whether represented in analogor digital form).

More specifically and as is depicted in FIG. 11, the compressioncontroller 950 may operate either the pair of VGAs 125 and 135 or thepair of VGAs 220 and 320 to reduce the gains to which signalsrepresenting feedback reference sounds and feedforward reference soundsare subjected in a coordinated manner in response to receiving anindication that environmental noise sounds (such as those emanating fromthe acoustic noise source 9900) have reached at least one predeterminedlevel of acoustic energy (e.g., a predetermined sound pressure level).This may be done by directly monitoring the amplitude of feedforwardreference sounds as detected by the feedforward microphone 130 (asspecifically depicted in FIG. 11). In some embodiments, that indicationmay be an occurrence of an acoustic artifact or an amplitude exceeding apredetermined level detected in signals conveying feedforward referencesounds from the feedforward microphone 130. In other embodiments, thatindication may be an occurrence of an acoustic artifact (e.g., clipping)or an amplitude of a sound exceeding a predetermined level detected bythe compression controller 950 in a signal conveying at least ananti-noise sound to be acoustically output by the acoustic driver 190(as specifically depicted in FIG. 11). In still other embodiments, thatindication may be an occurrence of an acoustic artifact or an amplitudeof a sound exceeding a predetermined level detected by the compressioncontroller 950 anywhere along the feedback-based ANR pathway 200 and/orthe feedforward-based ANR pathway 300. In yet other embodiments, thatindication may be an external control signal received from anotherdevice (not shown), where that other device may have in some waydetermined that the acoustic level of an environmental noise sound hasreached a predetermined level.

Attenuating both the feedforward and feedback reference sounds in acoordinated manner serves to avoid situations in which relativedifferences in strengths of the resulting feedforward and feedbackanti-noise sounds are allowed to differ too greatly. For example, iffeedforward reference sounds are not attenuated as feedback referencesounds are attenuated such that the strength of the feedforwardreference sounds is allowed to far exceed that of the feedback referencesounds, saturation of the compression of the feedback reference soundsmay occur. As those skilled in the art of combining feedforward-basedand feedback-based ANR will readily recognize, where the feedforward ANRanti-noise sound is summed towards the feedback loop output, thestrength of feedforward anti-noise sounds is reduced by thedesensitivity of the loop that is formed in implementing feedback-basedANR, and the strength of feedforward anti-noise sounds will thenincrease as gain in the loop of the feedback-based ANR is decreased bycompressor action. In some embodiments, this increase in the strength ofthe feedforward anti-noise sounds can, if allowed to become too greatrelative to the strength of the feedback anti-noise sounds, actuallyinduce further compression in the feedback-based ANR loop to the pointof compression saturation such that the strength of feedback anti-noisesounds is actually reduced to a degree that the provision offeedback-based ANR is fully lost. Further, the resulting absence offeedback-based ANR can induce still further increases in the strength ofthe feedforward anti-noise sounds in an effort to compensate for theabsence of feedback-based ANR. Under these conditions, the feedforwardanti-noise sounds could be supplied to the audio amplifier 960 and/orthe acoustic driver 190 with such strength that clipping of thefeedforward anti-noise sounds occurs as a result of limitations in theaudio amplifier 960 to amplify audio and/or in the acoustic driver 190to acoustically output audio being reached or exceeded, thereby furthercompromising the provision of ANR.

As is also more specifically depicted in FIG. 11, the compressioncontroller 950 may operate a pair of VGAs to compress signalsrepresenting feedforward reference sounds with a steeper slope ofattenuation than signals representing feedback reference sounds. Inother words, the compression controller 950 may operate the pair of VGAsto compress the amplitude of the feedforward reference sounds to agreater degree than the feedback reference sounds. This may be done inan effort to avoid occurrences of the aforedescribed scenario ofsaturation of compression in the loop of the feedback-based ANR. It mayalso be deemed desirable to do this in recognition of the more directand greater effect that environmental noise sounds are likely to have onthe feedforward microphone 130 than on the feedback microphone 120.

Variable degrees of compression may be employed in embodiments in whichthe compression controller 950 is provided with indications ofamplitudes, voltage levels and/or magnitudes of data values of signalsconveying either feedforward reference sounds or anti-noise sounds foracoustic output, wherein the variable degrees of attenuation of thefeedforward and feedback reference noise sounds are derived in relationto such amplitudes, voltage levels and/or magnitudes. It should be notedthat although FIG. 11 depicts substantially linear slopes of attenuationas being employed by the compression controller in operating a pair ofVGAs, non-linear curves representing any of a variety of linear and/ornon-linear relations between the degrees of attenuation that may beemployed and one or more of amplitudes, voltage levels, magnitudesand/or signal time histories.

As if further more specifically depicted in FIG. 11, the compression ofat least the feedforward reference sound may level off after reaching acertain degree of compression. Given that the degree of compression ofthe feedforward reference sound may, in some embodiments, be increasedat a greater rate than the degree of compression of the feedbackreference sound (again, as indicated by the depicted steeper slope), itmay be that this leveling off of the compression of the feedforwardreference sound is a result of the maximum possible compression of thefeedforward reference sound being reached before the maximum possiblecompression of the feedback reference sound is reached. In other words,whatever VGA is employed in compressing the feedforward reference soundmay be operated such that the feedforward reference sound is compressedto the extent that its amplitude is reduced to close to zero (possiblyreduced fully to zero) while the feedback reference sound is not.Alternatively, limitations in whatever VGA or other component isinvolved in compressing the feedforward reference sound may set amaximum degree of compression of the feedforward reference sound thatcannot be exceed. Alternatively and/or additionally, other designconsiderations may result in it being deemed in some way desirable thatthe degree of compression of the feedforward reference sound never beallowed to reach the extent that its amplitude is reduced close to zero(or reduced fully to zero).

FIGS. 12 a and 12 b each depict variations of a number of possibleadditions to the internal architectures 2200 a and 2200 b, respectively,of the ANR circuit 2000. Therefore, it should be noted that for sake ofsimplicity of discussion, only portions of the internal architectures2200 a and 2200 b associated with these possible additions are depicted,while other portions (e.g., portions related to pass-through audio thatmay be present) are omitted. Some of these possible additions rely onthe use of the interface 530 coupling the ANR circuit 2000 to otherdevices via at least one bus 535.

More particularly, in preparation for operating either the pair of VGAs125 and 135 (if present) or the pair of VGAs 220 and 320 (wherein theVGAs 220 and 320 are either selected from the VGA bank 560 orinstantiated from the VGA routine 561), the processing device 510 may becaused (perhaps by the loading routine 522) to configure the ANR circuit2000 to accept data specifying coordinated gain values from the storagedevice 170, another ANR circuit 2000 and/or a processing device 9100. Insome embodiments, the data specifying coordinated gain values may bemade up of one or more pairs of gain values to be provided to either thepair of VGAs 125 and 135 or the pair of VGAs 220 and 320 in response toan occurrence of the acoustic energy (e.g., sound pressure level) ofenvironmental noise sounds reaching at least one predetermined level. Insuch embodiments, the one or more pairs of gain values may be stored inthe storage 520 as part of the ANR settings 527, and/or may be providedin real time from one or both of the other ANR circuit 2000 and theprocessing device 9100 during normal operation of the personal ANRdevice 1000. In other embodiments, the data specifying coordinated gainvalues may be data specifying mathematic or other relationships by whichcoordinated gain values may be mathematically (or in some other way)derived from an amplitude, voltage level, magnitude or signal timehistory by the processing device 510 as part of executing the ANRroutine 525.

Where coordinated gain values are received by the ANR circuit 2000through the interface 530 from another device, and where that otherdevice is the other ANR circuit 2000, the coordinated gain values may beprovided in response to a feedforward microphone (not shown) of theother ANR circuit 2000 encountering environmental noise sounds having anenergy level that reached at least one predetermined level. This mayoccur where a feedforward microphone of the other ANR circuit 2000encounters such environmental noise sounds in a situation where thefeedforward microphone 130 does not, or where the feedforward microphoneof the other ANR circuit 2000 encounters such environmental noise soundssooner than the feedforward microphone 130. Such conveyance ofcoordinated gain values between the ANR circuit 2000 and the other ANRcircuit 2000 may occur as part of the provision of binauralfeedforward-based ANR as previously described.

Where coordinated gain values are received by the ANR circuit 2000through the interface 530 from another device, and where that otherdevice is the processing device 9100, the coordinated gain values may beprovided in response to one or both of the feedforward microphone 130and another feedforward microphone (not shown) of the other ANR circuit2000 encountering environmental noise sounds having an energy level thatreaches a predetermined level. The processing device 9100 may normallybe employed to execute a sequence of instructions that causes theprocessing device 9100 to perform one or more forms of analysis on atleast feedforward reference sounds detected by the feedforwardmicrophone 130 and/or the other feedforward microphone, but may also befurther employed to function as a form of compression controller toprovide the coordinated gain values to the ANR circuit 2000.

Regardless of the manner in which the coordinated gain values for a pairof VGAs are either received or derived, the manner in which they areprovided to a pair of VGAs may entail the use of triple-buffering aspreviously described. In some embodiments, the buffers 620 a and 620 b(see FIGS. 6 a through 6 c) are employed in making timing-coordinatedchanges of at least the gain settings of at least the pair of VGAs 125and 135 (if present) or the VGAs 220 and 320 (if present), while thebuffer 620 c holds coordinated gain values deemed to be conservativeenough to be a “failsafe” pair of gain values to be used in instanceswhere instability in the provision of ANR is detected.

Turning to FIG. 12 a and as has been previously described, in theinternal architecture 2200 a, the compression controller 950 may beimplemented as distinct circuitry within the ANR circuit 2000. Turningto FIG. 12 b and has also been previously described, in the internalarchitecture 2200 b, the compression controller 950 may be caused to beimplemented by the processing device 510 as a result of executing asequence of instructions of the ANR routine 525. Either implementationof the compression controller 950 may monitor characteristics ofanti-noise sounds to be acoustically output by the acoustic driver 190either by receiving the digital data provided to the DAC 910 or byreceiving digital data generated by the ADC 955 (if present) from theanalog signal output by the audio amplifier 960. This may be done inaddition to monitoring characteristics of feedforward reference noisesounds detected by the feedforward microphone 130, as has been describedat length. Again, despite such specific depictions of the manner inwhich the compression controller 950 (whether implemented with distinctcircuitry or as a sequence of instructions executed by a processingdevice) monitors sounds being acoustically output, as previouslydiscussed, the compression controller 950 may more directly monitorfeedforward reference sounds as detected by the feedforward microphone130 and/or may monitor sounds at other locations along one or both ofthe feedback-based ANR pathway 200 and the feedforward-based ANR pathway300.

It should be noted again that although implementations of the ANRcircuit 2000 employing at least some digital circuitry have beendepicted and discussed at length herein, those skilled in the art willreadily recognize that each of the many embodiments of signal processingtopologies and portions of signal processing topologies depicted anddiscussed herein may be implemented, either partially or entirely, usinganalog circuitry. Thus and more specifically, the modifications and/orportions of signal processing topologies depicted in FIG. 11 toimplement the coordinated compression of feedforward and feedbackreference sounds may be implemented entirely using analog circuitry.

FIG. 13 more clearly depicts an example of coordinated compression ofboth feedforward and feedback reference sounds with differing slopes, aspreviously discussed. FIG. 13 also depicts an example of using differentpredetermined threshold levels of acoustic energy in triggering thestart of compression of feedforward reference sounds versus the start ofcompression of feedback reference sounds, and further depicts an exampleof using threshold levels that are dependent on frequencycharacteristics of the environmental noise sounds detected by thefeedforward microphone 130.

It should be noted that although a linear rise in the acoustic energy ofenvironmental noise sounds over a period of time is depicted, such adepiction should not be taken as limiting the scope of what is describedor what is claimed herein to responding only to such an orderly andsteady change in acoustic energy of environmental noise sounds, andshould not be taken as reflecting a belief that such behavior ofenvironmental noise sounds is in any way expected in real worldconditions. It is to be understood that this very simplistic depictionof such an orderly and steady change in acoustic energy of environmentalnoise sounds is presented only to enable a greater understanding of themanner in which different levels of acoustic energy of environmentalnoise sounds may be responded to by what is described and what isclaimed herein.

As depicted, as the level of acoustic energy of the environmental noisesounds (such as those emanating from the acoustic noise source 9900)increases, a predetermined threshold level of acoustic energy is reachedat either T1 or T2 that serves as a trigger for causing the compressionof feedforward reference sounds to begin. As the level of acousticenergy of the environmental noise sounds continues to increase, thedegree of compression of feedforward reference sounds increases. As thelevel of acoustic energy of the environmental noise sounds stillcontinues to increase, another predetermined threshold level of acousticenergy is reached at either T3 or T4 that serves as a trigger forcausing the compression of feedback reference sounds to begin. As thelevel of acoustic energy of the environmental noise sounds yet continuesto increase, the degree of compression of feedback reference soundsincreases, as does also the degree of compression of feedforwardreference sounds, although as is also depicted, the increases incompression of feedforward reference sounds occur at a greater ratefollowing a steeper slope than the increases in compression of feedbackreference sounds.

As also depicted, in some embodiments, the threshold levels of acousticenergy of environmental noise sounds may change depending on frequencycharacteristics of the environmental noise sounds. By way of example,the threshold level of acoustic energy at which compression offeedforward reference sounds is triggered may be changed such that itsreached either at T1 or T2, depending on whether the predominantfrequencies of the environmental noise sounds are lower frequencies(such that the threshold is reached at T1) or higher frequencies (suchthat the threshold is reached at T2). Similarly, the threshold level ofacoustic energy at which compression of feedback reference sounds istriggered may be changed between being reached at T3 or T4, depending onwhether the predominant frequencies of the environmental noise soundsare lower frequencies (such that the threshold is reached at T3) orhigher frequencies (such that the threshold is reached at T4).

This dependency of thresholds on frequency characteristics ofenvironmental noise sounds may be employed in recognition of thedifferent ranges of frequencies at which each form of noise reductiontypically functions. Typically, the PNR provided by casing 110, earcoupling 115 and/or other physical features of the personal ANR device1000 reduces environmental noise sounds to a greater degree at higherfrequencies, the feedforward-based ANR acts to reduce environmentalsounds at lower frequencies, and the feedback-based ANR acts to reduceenvironmental sounds at still lower frequencies. Thus, thefeedforward-based and feedback-based ANR are more likely to be adverselyaffected by environmental noise sounds having very high acoustic energylevels at lower frequencies such that compression of feedforward and/orfeedback reference sounds may provide greater benefits at lowerfrequencies. Therefore, where environmental noise sounds are made up ofpredominantly lower frequency sounds, the threshold(s) at whichcompression of feedforward and/or feedback reference sounds may belowered such that compression of feedforward reference sounds istriggered at T1 (instead of at T2) and/or compression of feedbackreference sounds is triggered at T3 (instead of T4).

Alternatively and/or additionally, this dependency of thresholds onfrequency characteristics of environmental noise sounds may be employedin recognition of possible limitations of the acoustic driver 190 inacoustically outputting sounds of certain audible frequencies and/orranges of audible frequencies. As will be familiar to those skilled inthe art, it is common for acoustic drivers to acoustically output asound of one audible frequency with greater acoustic energy than anothersound of a different audible frequency despite such acoustic driversbeing driven by an audio amplifier with equal electrical energy toacoustically output both sounds. Given that the earlier-describedfeedback-based ANR loop includes the acoustic driver 190, which may besubject to such limitations, it may be deemed desirable to select thethresholds by which the compression of feedforward reference sounds andthe compression of feedback reference sounds are each triggered byenvironmental noise sounds of predominantly higher frequencies and ofpredominantly lower frequencies at least partly in recognition of thoselimitations.

The compression controller 950 may incorporate one or more filters toseparate the feedforward reference sounds represented by signalsprovided to the compression controller 950 from the feedforwardmicrophone 130 into sounds within two or more ranges of frequencies,and/or to determine the relative acoustic energies of the sounds withinthose two or more ranges of frequencies. Alternatively and/oradditionally, filters of one or more of the filter blocks 250, 350 and450 may be employed, perhaps in a manner in which the compressioncontroller 950 receives the feedforward reference sounds in a form thatis already separated into those two or more ranges of frequencies In theinternal architecture 2200 a, those filters may be provided from thefilter bank 550. In the internal architecture 2200 b, those filters maybe instantiated and implemented by the processing device 510 throughexecution of one or more of the filter routines 553, 555, 557 and 559.

Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims andother claims to which the applicant may be entitled.

1. An active noise reducing (ANR) circuit comprising: a first VariableGain Amplifier (VGA) to compress a feedforward reference soundrepresented by a signal output by a feedforward microphone detecting anexternal noise sound in an environment external to a casing as thefeedforward reference sound; a second VGA to compress a feedbackreference sound represented by a signal output by a feedback microphonedetecting a cavity noise sound within a cavity defined by the casing asthe feedback reference sound; at least one filter to generate afeedforward anti-noise sound from the feedforward reference sound; atleast another filter to generate a feedback anti-noise sound from thefeedback reference sound; and a compression controller coupled to thefirst and second VGAs to operate the first and second VGAs to coordinatecompression of the feedforward and feedback reference sounds in responseto the acoustic energy of the external noise sound reaching a firstthreshold; wherein the compression controller is structured to operatethe first VGA to compress the feedforward reference sound to anincreasingly greater degree than the compression controller operates thesecond VGA to compress the feedback reference sound as the acousticenergy of the external noise sound rises further above the firstthreshold.
 2. The ANR circuit of claim 1, wherein the first VGA is ananalog VGA interposed between the feedforward microphone and the atleast one filter, and wherein the compression controller monitors theacoustic energy of the external noise sound by monitoring the signaloutput by the feedforward microphone.
 3. The ANR circuit of claim 1,further comprising a first analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to convertthe signal output by the feedforward microphone from analog to digitalform, wherein the first VGA is a digital VGA interposed between firstADC and the at least one filter, and wherein the compression controllerreceives the signal from the feedforward microphone in digital formthrough the first ADC to monitor the acoustic energy of the externalnoise sound.
 4. An active noise reducing (ANR) circuit comprising: afirst Variable Gain Amplifier (VGA) to compress a feedforward referencesound represented by a signal output by a feedforward microphonedetecting an external noise sound in an environment external to a casingas the feedforward reference sound; a second VGA to compress a feedbackreference sound represented by a signal output by a feedback microphonedetecting a cavity noise sound within a cavity defined by the casing asthe feedback reference sound; at least one filter to generate afeedforward anti-noise sound from the feedforward reference sound; atleast another filter to generate a feedback anti-noise sound from thefeedback reference sound; a compression controller coupled to the firstand second VGAs to operate the first and second VGAs to coordinatecompression of the feedforward and feedback reference sounds in responseto the acoustic energy of the external noise sound reaching a firstthreshold; and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) to convert acombination of the feedforward and feedback anti-noise sounds from beingrepresented with digital data to being represented by an analog signalto be conveyed to an audio amplifier to drive an acoustic, driver toacoustically output the combination of feedforward and feedbackanti-noise sounds into the cavity, wherein: the compression controllerreceives the digital data representing the combination of thefeedforward and feedback anti-noise sounds; and the compressioncontroller is structured to determine that the acoustic energy of theexternal noise sound reaches the first threshold in response to theamplitude of the combination of the feedforward and feedback anti-noisesounds reaching another threshold.
 5. The ANR circuit of claim 4,wherein the compression controller is structured to operate the firstVGA to compress the feedforward reference sound to an increasinglygreater degree than the compression controller operates the second VGAto compress the feedback reference sound as the acoustic energy of theexternal noise sound rises further above the first threshold.
 6. Anactive noise reducing (ANR) circuit comprising: a first Variable GainAmplifier (VGA) to compress a feedforward reference sound represented bya signal output by a feedforward microphone detecting an external noisesound in an environment external to a casing as the feedforwardreference sound; a second VGA to compress a feedback reference soundrepresented by a signal output by a feedback microphone detecting acavity noise sound within a cavity defined by the casing as the feedbackreference sound; at least one filter to generate a feedforwardanti-noise sound from the feedforward reference sound; at least anotherfilter to generate a feedback anti-noise sound from the feedbackreference sound; a compression controller coupled to the first andsecond VGAs to operate the first and second VGAs to coordinatecompression of the feedforward and feedback reference sounds in responseto the acoustic energy of the external noise sound reaching a firstthreshold; and an audio amplifier outputting an analog signalrepresenting a combination of the feedforward and feedback anti-noisesounds to an acoustic driver to cause the acoustic driver toacoustically output the combination of the feedforward and feedbackanti-noise sounds into the cavity, wherein: the compression controllermonitors the analog signal output by the audio amplifier andrepresenting the combination of the feedforward and feedback anti-noisesounds; and the compression controller is structured to determine thatthe acoustic energy of the external noise sound reaches the firstthreshold in response to the amplitude of the analog signal representingthe combination of the feedforward and feedback anti-noise soundsreaching another threshold.
 7. An active noise reducing (ANR) circuitcomprising: a first Variable Gain Amplifier (VGA) to compress afeedforward reference sound represented by a signal output by afeedforward microphone detecting an external noise sound in anenvironment external to a casing as the feedforward reference sound; asecond VGA to compress a feedback reference sound represented by asignal output by a feedback microphone detecting a cavity noise soundwithin a cavity defined by the casing as the feedback reference sound;at least one filter to generate a feedforward anti-noise sound from thefeedforward reference sound; at least another filter to generate afeedback anti-noise sound from the feedback reference sound; acompression controller coupled to the first and second VGAs to operatethe first and second VGAs to coordinate compression of the feedforwardand feedback reference sounds in response to the acoustic energy of theexternal noise sound reaching a first threshold; and a digital-to-analogconverter (DAC) to convert a combination of the feedforward and feedbackanti-noise sounds from being represented with digital data to beingrepresented by an analog signal to be conveyed to an audio amplifier todrive an acoustic driver to acoustically output the combination offeedforward and feedback anti-noise sounds into the cavity, wherein: thecompression controller monitors the analog signal output by the DAC; andthe compression controller is structured to determine that the acousticenergy of the external noise sound reaches the first threshold inresponse to detecting an occurrence of an audio artifact in the analogsignal.
 8. An active noise reducing (ANR) circuit comprising: a firstVariable Gain Amplifier (VGA) to compress a feedforward reference soundrepresented by a signal output by a feedforward microphone detecting anexternal noise sound in an environment external to a casing as thefeedforward reference sound; a second VGA to compress a feedbackreference sound represented by a signal output by a feedback microphonedetecting a cavity noise sound within a cavity defined by the casing asthe feedback reference sound; at least one filter to generate afeedforward anti-noise sound from the feedforward reference sound; atleast another filter to generate a feedback anti-noise sound from thefeedback reference sound; a compression controller coupled to the firstand second VGAs to operate the first and second VGAs to coordinatecompression of the feedforward and feedback reference sounds in responseto the acoustic energy of the external noise sound reaching a firstthreshold; and an audio amplifier outputting an analog signalrepresenting a combination of the feedforward and feedback anti-noisesounds to an acoustic driver to cause the acoustic driver toacoustically output the combination of the feedforward and feedbackanti-noise sounds into the cavity, wherein: the compression controllermonitors the analog signal output by the audio amplifier; and thecompression controller is structured to determine that the acousticenergy of the external noise sound reaches the first threshold inresponse to detecting an occurrence of an audio artifact in the analogsignal.
 9. An active noise reducing (ANR) circuit comprising: a firstVariable Gain Amplifier (VGA) to compress a feedforward reference soundrepresented by a signal output by a feedforward microphone detecting anexternal noise sound in an environment external to a casing as thefeedforward reference sound; a second VGA to compress a feedbackreference sound represented by a signal output by a feedback microphonedetecting a cavity noise sound within a cavity defined by the casing asthe feedback reference sound; at least one filter to generate afeedforward anti-noise sound from the feedforward reference sound; atleast another filter to generate a feedback anti-noise sound from thefeedback reference sound; and a compression controller coupled to thefirst and second VGAs to operate the first and second VGAs to coordinatecompression of the feedforward and feedback reference sounds in responseto the acoustic energy of the external noise sound reaching a firstthreshold; wherein the compression controller is structured to changethe first threshold in response to a change in what audible frequency ispredominant in the external noise sound.
 10. The ANR circuit of claim 9,wherein the compression controller is structured to lower the firstthreshold in response to what audible frequency is predominant in theexternal noise sound changing from a higher audible frequency to a loweraudible frequency, and to raise the first threshold in response to whataudible frequency is predominant in the external noise sound changingfrom a lower audible frequency to a higher audible frequency.
 11. Anactive noise reducing (ANR) circuit comprising: a first Variable GainAmplifier (VGA) to compress a feedforward reference sound represented bya signal output by a feedforward microphone detecting an external noisesound in an environment external to a casing as the feedforwardreference sound; a second VGA to compress a feedback reference soundrepresented by a signal output by a feedback microphone detecting acavity noise sound within a cavity defined by the casing as the feedbackreference sound; at least one filter to generate a feedforwardanti-noise sound from the feedforward reference sound; at least anotherfilter to generate a feedback anti-noise sound from the feedbackreference sound; and a compression controller coupled to the first andsecond VGAs to operate the first and second VGAs to coordinatecompression of the feedforward and feedback reference sounds in responseto the acoustic energy of the external noise sound reaching a firstthreshold; wherein: the compression controller is structured to operatethe first VGA and the second VGA to compress both the feedforward andfeedback reference sounds in response to the acoustic energy of theexternal noise sound reaching the first threshold; the compressioncontroller is structured to operate the first VGA to compress thefeedforward reference sound and operates the second VGA to refrain fromcompressing the feedback reference sound in response to the acousticenergy of the external noise sound remaining below the first thresholdwhile rising above a second threshold; and the second threshold is lowerthan the first threshold.
 12. The ANR circuit of claim 11, wherein: thecompression controller is structured to operate the first VGA tocompress the feedforward reference sound to an increasingly greaterdegree as the acoustic energy of the external noise sound rises furtherabove the first threshold until the firsts VGA is operated to have again close to zero; and the compression controller is structured tooperate the second VGA to compress the feedback reference sound to anincreasingly greater degree as the acoustic energy of the external noisesound rises further above the first threshold and without regard towhether or not the first VGA has been operated to have a gain close tozero.
 13. The ANR circuit of claim 11, wherein: the compressioncontroller is structured to operate the first VGA to compress thefeedforward reference sound to an increasingly greater degree as theacoustic energy of the external noise sound rises further above thefirst threshold until the acoustic energy reaches a third threshold; thethird threshold is higher than the first threshold; and the compressioncontroller is structured to operate the second VGA to compress thefeedback reference sound to an increasingly greater degree as theacoustic energy of the external noise sound rises further above thefirst threshold and without regard to whether or not the acoustic energyof the external noise sound rises above the third threshold.
 14. Apersonal active noise reduction (ANR) device comprising: a first casingdefining a first cavity structured to be acoustically coupled to a firstear canal of a first ear of a user of the personal ANR device; a firstfeedforward microphone carried by the first casing in a manner thatacoustically couples the first feedforward microphone to an environmentexternal to the first casing to detect a first external noise sound inthe environment external to the first casing, and structured to output asignal representing the first external noise sound as a firstfeedforward reference sound; a first feedback microphone disposed withinthe first cavity to detect a cavity noise sound within the first cavity,and structured to output a signal representing the cavity noise sound asa first feedback reference sound; a first acoustic driver disposedwithin the first casing to acoustically output a first feedforwardanti-noise sound and first feedback anti-noise sound into the firstcavity; and a first ANR circuit coupled to the first feedforwardmicrophone to receive the signal representing the first feedforwardreference sound, coupled to the first feedback microphone to receive thesignal the representing first feedback reference sound, and coupled tothe first acoustic driver to drive the first acoustic driver toacoustically output the first feedforward and first feedback anti-noisesounds; wherein the first ANR circuit is structured to generate thefirst feedforward anti-noise sound from the first feedforward referencesound, structured to generate the first feedback anti-noise sound fromthe first feedback reference sound, and structured to coordinatecompression of the first feedforward and first feedback reference soundsin response to the acoustic energy of the first external noise soundreaching a first threshold; wherein the ANR circuit is structured tochange the first threshold in response to a change in what audiblefrequency is predominant in the first external noise sound.
 15. Thepersonal ANR device of claim 14, further comprising: a second casingdefining a second cavity structured to be acoustically coupled to asecond ear canal of a second ear of the user; a second feedforwardmicrophone carried by the second casing in a manner that acousticallycouples the second feedforward microphone to an environment external tothe second casing to detect a second external noise sound in theenvironment external to the second casing, and structured to output asignal representing the second external noise sound as a secondfeedforward reference sound; a second feedback microphone disposedwithin the second cavity to detect a cavity noise sound within thesecond cavity, and structured to output a signal representing the cavitynoise sound as a second feedback reference sound; and a second acousticdriver disposed within the second casing to acoustically output a secondfeedforward anti-noise sound and second feedback anti-noise sound intothe second cavity.
 16. The personal ANR device of claim 15, furthercomprising a second ANR circuit coupled to the second feedforwardmicrophone to receive the signal representing the second feedforwardreference sound, coupled to the second feedback microphone to receivethe signal the representing second feedback reference sound, and coupledto the second acoustic driver to drive the second acoustic driver toacoustically output the second feedforward and second feedbackanti-noise sounds; wherein the second ANR circuit is structured togenerate the second feedforward anti-noise sound from the secondfeedforward reference sound, structured to generate the second feedbackanti-noise sound from the second feedback reference sound, andstructured to coordinate compression of the second feedforward andsecond feedback reference sounds in response to the acoustic energy ofthe second external noise sound reaching the first threshold.
 17. Thepersonal ANR device of claim 15, wherein: the first ANR circuit iscoupled to the second feedforward microphone to receive the signalrepresenting the second feedforward reference sound, coupled to thesecond feedback microphone to receive the signal the representing secondfeedback reference sound, and coupled to the second acoustic driver todrive the second acoustic driver to acoustically output the secondfeedforward and second feedback anti-noise sounds; and the first ANRcircuit is structured to generate the second feedforward anti-noisesound from the second feedforward reference sound, and structured togenerate the second feedback anti-noise sound from the second feedbackreference sound.
 18. The personal ANR device of claim 17, wherein thefirst ANR circuit is structured to coordinate compression of the secondfeedforward and second feedback reference sounds in response to theacoustic energy of the second external noise sound reaching the firstthreshold.
 19. The personal ANR device of claim 17, wherein the firstANR circuit is structured to coordinate compression of the firstfeedforward, the first feedback, the second feedforward and the secondfeedback reference sounds in response to the acoustic energy of thefirst external noise sound reaching the first threshold.
 20. Thepersonal ANR device of claim 14, wherein the ANR circuit is structuredto lower the first threshold in response to what audible frequency ispredominant in the external noise sound changing from a higher audiblefrequency to a lower audible frequency, and to raise the first thresholdin response to what audible frequency is predominant in the externalnoise sound changing from a lower audible frequency to a higher audiblefrequency.
 21. The personal ANR device of claim 14, wherein the ANRcircuit compresses the first feedforward reference sound to anincreasingly greater degree than the ANR circuit compresses the firstfeedback reference sound as the acoustic energy of the first externalnoise sound rises further above the first threshold.
 22. The personalANR device of claim 14, wherein: the ANR circuit is structured tocompress both the first feedforward and first feedback reference soundsin response to the acoustic energy of the first external noise soundreaching the first threshold; the ANR circuit is structured to compressthe feedforward reference sound and refrains from compressing the firstfeedback reference sound in response to the acoustic energy of the firstexternal noise sound remaining below the first threshold while risingabove a second threshold; and the second threshold is lower than thefirst threshold.
 23. The personal ANR device of claim 22, wherein: theANR circuit is structured to compress the feedforward reference sound toan increasingly greater degree as the acoustic energy of the firstexternal noise sound rises further above the first threshold until thefeedforward reference has been compressed to a degree where thefeedforward reference sound has been reduced in amplitude to close tozero; and the ANR circuit is structured to compress the feedbackreference sound to an increasingly greater degree as the acoustic energyof the first external noise sound rises further above the firstthreshold and without regard to whether or not the feedforward referencesound has been reduced in amplitude to close to zero.
 24. A methodcomprising: employing an external noise sound detected in an environmentexternal to a casing of a personal active noise reduction (ANR) deviceas a feedforward reference sound to generate a feedforward anti-noisesound; employing a cavity noise sound detected in a cavity defined bythe casing and structured to be acoustically coupled to an ear canal asa feedback reference sound to generate a feedback anti-noise sound;acoustically outputting the feedforward and feedback anti-noise soundsinto the cavity; and coordinating compression of the feedforward andfeedback reference sounds in response to the acoustic energy of theexternal noise sound reaching a first threshold; wherein acousticallyoutputting the feedforward and feedback anti-noise sounds into thecavity comprises driving an acoustic driver with an output of an audioamplifier to cause the acoustic driver to acoustically output thefeedforward and feedback anti-noise sounds, and further comprisingmonitoring the output of the audio amplifier to detect an audio artifactindicative of the acoustic energy of the external noise reaching thefirst threshold.
 25. The method of claim 24, further comprisingmonitoring the feedforward reference sound by monitoring a signal outputby a feedforward microphone that represents the feedforward referencesound to determine the acoustic energy of the external noise sound. 26.The method of claim 24, further comprising changing the first thresholdin response to a change in what audible frequency is predominant in theexternal noise sound.
 27. The method of claim 26, further comprisinglowering the first threshold in response to what audible frequency ispredominant in the external noise sound changing from a higher audiblefrequency to a lower audible frequency, and raising the first thresholdin response to what audible frequency is predominant in the externalnoise sound changing from a lower audible frequency to a higher audiblefrequency.
 28. The method of claim 24, further comprising compressingthe feedforward reference sound to an increasingly greater degree thanthe feedback reference sound as the acoustic energy of the externalnoise sound rises further above the first threshold.
 29. The method ofclaim 24, further comprising: compressing both the feedforward andfeedback reference sounds in response to the acoustic energy of theexternal noise sound reaching the first threshold; compressing thefeedforward reference sound and refraining from compressing the feedbackreference sound in response to the acoustic energy of the external noisesound remaining below the first threshold while rising above a secondthreshold, wherein the second threshold is lower than the firstthreshold.
 30. The method of claim 29, further comprising: compressingthe feedforward reference sound to an increasingly greater degree as theacoustic energy of the external noise sound rises further above thefirst threshold until the feedforward reference has been compressed to adegree where the feedforward reference sound has been reduced inamplitude to close to zero; and compressing the feedback reference soundto an increasingly greater degree as the acoustic energy of the externalnoise sound rises further above the first threshold and without regardto whether or not the feedforward reference sound has been reduced inamplitude to close to zero.